Lost and Found
by Kieshia
Summary: Carol takes the car and leaves before the others even realize she's missing. Starts in season 5 episode 2.
1. Chapter 1

The sensation of falling caused Daryl to violently jolt awake. It took him several seconds to take notice of his surroundings. He was still sitting on the floor of the church slumped against the wooden pew. The room was lit with several candles throughout. He knew he hadn't been out long because people were still divided into groups carrying on quite conversations. Some still eating from the "feast" of the evening.

Daryl put his head back with a sigh, wanting to continue his slumber. He jerked back up almost immediately upon realizing something was wrong. It took him only a second more to realize what it was. Sitting where Carol had been was a lone empty plate and no sign of the woman.

He quickly jumped to his feet almost shouting "Where's Carol?"

The room went silent all heads turning toward him. Michonne was the one to speak "I saw her go out the door a bit ago." she said casually. "I assumed she was going to use the bathroom."

Daryl moved quickly to the spot Carol had been sitting and looked for her pack. His stomach got tight with dread when he couldn't find it. Without saying another word he started out the door. He raced through the woods without his usual grace. He broke out of the trees right where the "emergency" car was supposed to be. The car was gone.

He braced his hands on his knees and took several deep breaths to control his frustration. He was startled when Rick asked "What's going on, Daryl?" from right beside him.

"She's gone." Daryl answered quietly.

"What do you mean?" Rick asked looking around with a confused expression.

Daryl sighed deeply "Me and Carol found a car with a charger. She said that we should leave it here in case things went south at the church. I knew she wasn't herself. She seemed so cut off from everyone. I was keeping an eye on her but I fell asleep." Daryl was on the verge of tears, picking up a rock and throwing it as hard as he could into the woods in his frustration.

"Maybe she will come back." Rick said trying to be optimistic.

"No." Tyreese said from behind them. "She wasn't planning on staying. She was just making sure that Judith and I made it to Terminus and then she was going to leave."

Daryl stood looking at Tyreese for several uncomfortable minutes before asking "Are you going to tell us what happened out there?" Daryl knew that Carol wasn't the only one changed. Tyreese was a broken man and nobody knew why.

Tyreese's only response was to shake his head an turn back toward the church.

"I don't know what to do." Daryl whispered totally lost.

"We just have to keep doing what we're doing. Maybe she'll realize the mistake she is making and will come back to us." Rick said as they started the journey back through the woods to the church.

Daryl nodded his head in agreement, but deep down he knew she wouldn't be back.

Carol knew even as she was starting the car that she was most likely making a huge mistake, but she never hesitated. Without even glancing in the rear view mirror she drove away from her family.

She didn't have the will to stay and watch them die, especially when there was no way to stop it. She was so full of pain, she didn't think it would ever stop hurting.

She drove for hours not even paying attention to the signs telling her where she was going. She just drove until eventually the car just stopped. Of course the car had to stop in the middle of nowhere, she wasn't really surprised.

She grabbed her pack out of the car, contemplating the rifle before deciding to take it. Then she simply started walking. She followed the road for several miles before turning and heading into the woods.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_**Two Weeks Later**_

The church had been a good place for the group to rest and regroup a little. Abraham, Rosita and Eugene decided to continue on their journey while the others decided to stay. Only a few days after the others left the remaining members of Terminus had attacked the church. It was a quick and bloody battle with no loss of life for the church group.

Rick had wanted to leave after the first week, but Daryl had been reluctant. He kept saying that he wanted the group to be able to rest more. Rick was sure Daryl didn't want to leave in case Carol returned. Rick knew that Daryl had gone hunting for Carol under the guise of hunting for supplies. While he had indeed found supplies, he never saw any sign of Carol or the car.

Rick hurt for his friend but they needed to be on the road. They desperately needed a more permanent home.

When the group were all sitting in the church eating that night he decided it was time to bring up leaving again. He looked over to see Daryl brooding over his beans.

"Daryl can you please join us over here." Rick put some authority in his voice, knowing Daryl was more likely to listen. Rick watched Daryl gave the biggest sigh of his life and then move to his feet. He slowly moved over to stand against the wall behind Maggie and Glenn who sat on the floor with Sasha and Bob. Tyreece was sitting on a bench to their left with Judith on a pile of blankets beside him and Michonne sitting on her other side. Carl and Gabriel sat on either side of Rick who was standing at the head of the group. Tara had been standing, but decided to sit beside Glenn when it looked like an important conversation.

Rick stood silently looking at his family. They had all been through so much. He wanted nothing more than to find them a safe permanent place. Even more so now he had Judith back.

"We need to move out of here and quick." he finally spoke. "I would like to have something more permanent before the cold gets here."

"I'm staying with my church." Gabriel spoke, looking wearily at the others.

Rick had expected that response from him. "We will set you up as best we can before we leave, but you are more than welcome to come with us."

Gabriel gave a small nod.

"Where are we going to go?" Glenn asked.

Before Rick could give an answer Daryl spoke up "Maybe we should try going into the mountains." he paused looking at the group to judge what they were thinking. Everyone seemed to be interested. He continued. "It would be harder to do runs, but it's not exactly easy now. It's harder on the walkers to move around on hills and stuff."

Tyreese was the first to break the silence. "I think it's not a bad idea. If we could find some place on a hill and put spikes up, it would make it harder for the bastards to climb."

Rick thought for a minute. "I don't have any problem with that idea. Does anyone else?"

Everyone shook their head in the negative.

"OK so we will take the rest of the day today and tomorrow to plan and to pack and to get Gabriel as settled as we can. Then we will hit a couple of towns around here and gather all the supplies we can, then head up the mountain."

Everyone agreed and went back to their business. Rick saw Daryl moving to the door, when he stepped out, Rick followed.

He found him sitting on the steps outside the church. "This is a good idea." Rick said sitting beside him.

Daryl just shrugged.

Rick sighed "I know you miss her. We all do, but she left us. She's obviously not coming back. You have to keep going. That's what she would want."

After a moment of silence Daryl replied "I know. It's time to move on. I just feel like I'm giving up on her."

Rick stood giving Daryl's shoulder a squeeze as he moved toward the door. "I know what you mean."

The next several weeks were filled with non-stop moving. They hit as many towns as they could, stocking up on supplies. They found three vehicles and stuffed them as full as they could while still being able to fit themselves. They had a large Chevy truck and two Jeep Cherokees. They had gotten lucky and found a stash of several gas cans full of gas and a hidden hatch under some stairs in an old house full of food goods. If they were careful they had enough food to last for several weeks, before they had to start getting nervous.

Finally a month after leaving the church they hit the pay dirt in the form of a large compound on the top of a mountain. It had a large two story central building made of stone and wood with two smaller one story building flanking either side, both made of stone. There was also three small aluminum sheds on the property.

There was a wooden wall about seven foot high on three sides. It looked to be more for decoration and privacy instead of protection, but with a little re-enforcement it could be a strong barrier against walkers. On the fourth side toward the road there looked to be the beginnings of a stone wall. Two sides of the property had nearly shear drops on the other side of the wall. The other two side were large hills. The hills were covered with high weeds and grass which would make it hard for walkers or people to climb. The road into the property was dirt and starting to be taken over by grass which would work in their favor.

There was only about 15 walkers stumbling around the outside, but they all turned in their direction immediately. They were taken care of quickly.

The sky was starting to darken so they chose one of the smaller buildings to camp in for the night. They cleared out the 5 walkers quickly and went about blocking all the entrances with whatever was available.

The next day they finished clearing out the other buildings with very little incident. They found a large kitchen area with a walk in pantry filled with canned and boxed goods. There was a freezer full of rotted meat. After a spirited game of Rock-Paper-Scissors Tara and Carl ended up in charge of freezer clean up. Neither of them being afraid to voice their displeasure.

In a small room on the bottom floor of the largest building they found a medical office with some meds and first aid supplies. In the small aluminum sheds they found a variety of garden tools. The majority were turned into much needed weapons.

When it was time to choose rooms they all decided to stay in the largest building. Sasha and Bob had a room together as did Glenn and Maggie. While the others had their own private rooms, with Judith with Rick.

They had been temporarily keeping the exposed side of the wall blocked with the Jeeps. They were eventually able to find enough random materials to make a crude wall with a gate large enough to drive through. They reinforced the other three sides as well making a nice protective barrier from walkers and humans alike. They put spikes up the hills, as well as along the outside of the walls.

They finished with a few weeks to spare before the cold weather moved in.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Six months after Carol left<strong>_

Carol jerked awake to complete darkness. She actually blinked several times to make sure she had her eyes open. She was laying on her back and when her eyes adjusted for a minute she could see the outline of the room. It was a tiny room and smelled of dirt, urine and excrement. It was only when she tried to move her hand to her nose she realized she was shackled. She tried moving both arms and legs realizing all were shackled. She pulled as hard as could at them knowing it was useless.

When she tried to move her mouth to yell she felt the gag. Trying hard not to panic she went completely limp and took several deep breaths relaxing and listening.

When she was completely quite she could just make out the jangle of another pair of shackles. She moved her head trying to see in the darkness. She couldn't.

As she concentrated on trying to see beside her, the room was suddenly illuminated with a dull glow. She could just make out the figure beside her. It was another woman, she was covered in a thick layer of dirt and what was probably blood. Her eyes were huge and the blue was made brighter by the darkness of the filth on her face. She was breathing quickly and deeply. She shifted her eyes up as a trap door was opened above them.

Temporarily blinded by the harsh light Carol didn't notice the figure coming down the ladder. When she was able to see again she could see it was a man with a little brown haired girl, who was just as dirty as the woman beside her. He pushed the little girl into the corner and turned his eyes to Carol.

He smiled at her with crooked browning teeth. "Well, what do we have here?" he asked moving toward her. He stood over her, staring, moving his eyes up and down her body.

When he met her eyes she met his stare unflinchingly. He moved to straddle her on his knees. He put his hands on her breast and squeezed as hard as he could. Her cheek twitched, but she gave him no reaction, just staring at him pointedly.

He lost his smile a little then tilting his head and regarding her. She saw his right side tensing for a slap and braced herself as much as she could, turning her head with the blow. She winced slightly but didn't make a sound. He reared back and slapped her harder this time. He got the same reaction, even though she was in a considerable amount of pain. She refused to show any kind of weakness to a man again. She had fought too hard to become the woman she was now. She wouldn't go back.

After another brief staring contest he pulled something off his hip. He held up the knife for her to see. He pressed it against her cheek hard enough to break the skin. He dragged it down her cheek an inch. Again no reaction.

"You think I believe you ain't scared of me?" he snarled his smile gone completely now. He grabbed the sides of her shirt and ripped it violently. Her body jerked from the rough movement, but she retained her silence.

He was about the cut her tank when a voice from above called out. The man above her jumped up quickly and backed away from her.

A large man peeked his head down into the open door. When he saw the other man he came down quickly. "Charles you know daddy don't like you messin' with his pets. You was just supposed to bring the little un' down here and come eat. Am I going to have to tell daddy you need another whoopin'?"

Charles looked like a scolded child as he shook his head and said "Nuh uh." He moved dejectedly to the ladder with a glare in Carol's direction.

After Charles left the larger man gave Carol a dismissive glance before leaving without a word. The man shut the door and Carol could hear a shuffling sound from at her feet and saw the little girl moving toward the other woman's side.

"Mama?" she whispered. The woman was only able to mumble a slight sound around the gag in her mouth. The girl seemed relieved to hear it though. Carol looked again at the chained woman. Carol could just make out scaring along the right side of the woman's face beneath the filth. It looked like cuts, there was several of them. Carol assumed the blood on her face was from fresh ones that she couldn't see. She knew she had a matching one on her own cheek.

The woman met Carol's eyes now, no longer looking panicked now that her baby was back. She gave a slight nod in Carol's direction that Carol returned right as the room was thrown back into darkness as the light upstairs was turned off.

After a few quite minutes in the dark the little girl was shuffling and then settling again. She started to hum then. Carol couldn't place the song but it was sweet sounding. She was lost in the beautiful song when she felt a tiny freezing hand take hold of her own and hold it gently. She finally let the tears slide down her aching face.


	2. Chapter 2

Carol had no way of knowing how long she lay there until the lights above were turned on again. The little girl quickly moved back to the corner of the room and then the door was opened. Carol was briefly relived to see that it wasn't Charles. It was the larger man who had reprimanded Charles before.

He made is way down the ladder and stood beside the two chained women. He fiddled with a set of keys on his belt loop. After some contemplation he kneeled beside Carol and started to remove her constraints. She briefly thought about trying to fight her way out, but didn't want to risk the other two lives and she didn't have any way of knowing where the other man was. She decided to just see what happened.

After the shackles were off he grabbed her roughly by the shirt and pulled her to her feet. It took her a second to find her balance after laying down for so long. She was startled when he roughly grabbed her chin and made her face him.

"Don't even think of tryin' somethin'. It would be real stupid." And with that he pushed her toward the ladder.

She stumbled but caught herself before falling. At the top of the ladder she found a room, or more so a closet. The light was coming from a bare bulb in the ceiling and Carol briefly wondered how they had power. Before she could think anything else she was roughly pushed out the open door. Behind her the man turned off the light and closed the door. She was glad she wasn't in the dark for now.

As Carol took in her surrounding she could tell she was in a cabin of some sort. It was large and open. Surprisingly bright from the natural light coming in the windows. There was no artificial light that she could see. She was standing in the living room. There were three comfortable looking chairs around a fireplace against the biggest wall. As she was shoved further she saw a dining room with a small table and three chairs. There was a small kitchen area with an old wood burning stove and counters covered with what looked to be drying meat. Carols mouth watered at the sight.

She was shoved past all this out the door. Outside she was confronted with a large brick wall. There was probably about 7 feet of dirt before the wall. Again she was pushed in a different direction. When they turned around the corner of the house she saw a cage and panic started to set in. Before she had time for any kind of reaction she was shoved roughly into the cage and the door was shut. She turned to face the man.

She got a good look at him for the first time. She knew he was much larger than Charles but he was also much younger. He couldn't be any older than 20. "Take off your clothes." he demanded harshly. She didn't immediately react. "You take them off or I come in there and rip em' off." He reached for the gate but Carol quickly started to undress. After she was completely exposed she held her arms trying to cover herself. This caused the big man to chuckle. When he opened the gate door Carol shrunk back as far as she could into the corner. Again this got another laugh. He simply grabber her clothes and closed the door before walking off.

Even though she was nude and in a cage she started to relax a little. From her vantage point she could she could only see the brick wall and the wooden wall of the cabin. She figured the cabin would have been beautiful once upon a time.

She was brought out of musings buy the sound of voices. She saw Charles and the younger man coming around the corner, but they weren't alone. An older man with white hair and a long beard was walking between them. They all stood in front of the cage staring at her with interest. She regarded the new man with the same interest. He reminded her of Hershel without the kindness you could always see in Hershel. The man's eyes were cold. He looked at her like Ed used to before he would punish her.

She gave the man a once over and stopped when she saw her knife on his hip. "That's my knife." she stated dumbly. She was surprised when the man laughed loudly. She could tell the other two men were just as shocked as she was. "I think it's mine now. Don't you?" He asked, his voice raspy. She had expected it to be stronger. She shrugged one shoulder "For now."

"Well aren't you awfully cocky for a naked bitch, in a cage." Charles snarled from beside the older man. She didn't even acknowledge him. Never taking her eyes off the older man. She heard Charles growl a little. The old man just shook his head with a smirk.

"I guess you're wondering why you're here aren't you." The old man said. "You're here because you belong to us now. We saved you from them dead bastards and now you owe us."

Carol sighed wondering how she always ended up dealing with crazy people.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice. She was so tired of it all.

"Whatever we want you to do. You'll do all the lady stuff around here cleanin' and cooking and whatnot. If you don't do what we say we can make you Charles's little toy." he finished his voice turning hard.

Carol could see Charles smiling out of the corner of her eye. He actually licked his lips. She knew she would do anything to keep that from happening.

"What about the other woman and her kid?" she asked.

"The woman is nothing to us anymore. She's only alive cause her kid won't sing to us if we kill her." The old man answered her.

Carol nodded her head like it all made perfect sense. "So why am I in this cage and naked. I can't do my cleaning or cooking from in here."

The old man chuckled again. "Well you're in the cage so you don't get the idea in your head to run. You're naked, because… why not." He ended with a shrug and a smirk. She saw two matching smirks on the younger men. She had to fight the urge not to roll her eyes. The whole ordeal seemed so ridiculous.

She was subjected to several more minutes of uncomfortable staring before finally the door was opened and she was handed back her clothes. She got dressed quicker than she ever had before and stood waiting to see what happened next.

Several hours later, she had no way of knowing how many for sure but the natural light from the window was now replaced with darkness. There was a single light bulb glowing in a floor lamp against the wall close to the fireplace. The men were eating the meal of random jarred foods they had in a room off the kitchen. The room was full of enough food to last the men years. They also had barrels of rain water against the house and buckets full of fresh water they get from a creek near the house.

From listening to the men talk she knew the biggest ones name was Jacob, the older man was only referred to as papa.

She had been working non-stop since they let her out of the cage. As she worked she was also learning her surroundings. Trying to figure out if there was a way to get away. She had a few ideas, but didn't know how to go about executing them quite yet.

When the men were finished eating Carol started cleaning the dishes. Papa sent Jacob down to get the little girl for the evening's entertainment.

When the little girl came in she was shaking. When she looked at Carol she gave her a reassuring smile. The little girl seemed to calm slightly. The girl was probably 9 or 10 her hair was too dirty and matted to tell the color. Her eyes were the same blue as her mothers. The men stood her in front of the fireplace and made her sing songs for a while before finally deciding they were done with her.

Papa gave Carol three bowls of the leftovers from supper and sent her down in the hole to feed the other two along with herself. She escorted to the trap door and told to make it quick. She lowered herself down the ladder and passed a bowl to the little girl. The girl immediately started to shovel the food down. She moved to the shackled woman. It took a minute to work out how to feed her, but she ended up bracing the woman up with knees under her shoulders and feeding her herself. When the woman was finished Carol ate from her own bowl. Finishing half and then giving the little girl the rest. The little girl gave her back the empty bowl with a whispered "Thank you."

Back at the top of the stairs she was confronted by an irritated looking Jacob. He showed her his frustration by pushing her out the door. She tripped but kept her feet under her.

After finishing the last three dishes and getting the men's beds ready for them to sleep in she was surprised when papa told her she would be sleeping on the floor in his room.

She was relieved to not have to be shackled again, but couldn't figure out why. She decided not to think about it too hard. She lay on the rough wooden floor at the foot of papa's bed with no form of bedding, but she was so exhausted she was asleep almost immediately.

* * *

><p>It had been a month since Carol was captured. She had been the model prisoner for the men. Doing exactly as they said when they said, making sure they never had to ask twice. She knew they were starting to get too comfortable with her, they were getting sloppy in there watchfulness. There would be several minutes where she was completely left to her own devices.<p>

She started to take these times to snoop and plan. She was snooping around in the bathroom one day and stumbled upon some sleeping pills. She put them in her pocket, and was back to where they left before they realized she was alone again.

A couple of nights later while she was cooking she decided to add an extra ingredient. She emptied the bottle of pills into the stew. She knew it wouldn't kill the men, but she hoped it was enough to put them down while she executed her plan.

Later that night the three men were slumped in their chairs all in a deep sleep. Carol quickly grabbed the keys of Jacob and her knife off of Papa. She moved quickly into the closet threw open the door. She heard a startled yelp from the little girl. "It's me." she said quietly before descending the ladder.

She made her way quickly to the shackled woman and made quick work of the constraints. "You have to hurry." She told the woman who was moving stiffly into a sitting position. Carol pulled the woman into a standing position knowing she was in pain from laying on the ground chained for so long. "I know it hurts but you have to move." She pushed the woman toward the ladder going up first and then helping the woman and little girl up.

She quickly checked out the door to see if the men were still asleep and they were. Carol moved the woman and the little girl to the room off the kitchen. She noticed both of them glance at the door to the outside longingly. She would have laughed if she was so panicked. She moved some stuff around until she found the backpack she was looking for. She had loaded it with things the two would need on the road. It would last them at least for a little bit.

"There's food, water and some other things you'll need." She said as the woman looked at the back questioningly. Carol ushered them out to the gate in the wall. "You've killed those things before right?" she asked gesturing to beyond the wall. The woman nodded. "Good take this." She said giving the woman her knife.

The woman shook her head "Aren't you coming?"

Carol smiled and shook her head. "I'm going to make sure you have enough time to get far away."

The woman hesitated only a second before grabbing the knife "Thank you." she said before turning to leave.

Carol was almost knocked down by the fierce hug the little girl gave her before following her mom.

Carol watched them go with a smile.

* * *

><p><em><strong>2 weeks later<strong>_

Daryl sat in the makeshift lookout tower, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. The tower was built out of scavenged wood and bricks. It had a wide base and a covered platform at the top. It was protected against the elements and against anyone who may decide to shoot at it. You got up to the platform by a rickety ladder. It was built to hold one person but you could squeeze in another if needed.

Daryl spent most of his time in the tower. He was still afraid to get too comfortable even though they were the safest they had been since the world went to hell. They were stocked with more food than they had ever had thanks to weekly runs. They were well protected from walkers and only occasionally had to go out and deal with the buildup of bodies against the wall.

During their time there had been two random groups of people to find the compound. They had been given the option of staying if they wanted or going when they were ready and unsurprisingly so far they had decided to stay. So they now had seven new people. They all seemed to be decent people from the little amount of time Daryl had dealt with them. It was nice to have the extra help.

Everything was calm out until he noticed figures making their way up the hill to the gate, they were moving too quick to be walkers. He gave a shrill whistle to Michonne and Rick who were walking the wall. They looked up and he gestured to the gate. They both took off in that direction, as Daryl climbed down from his post.

Pointing a gun through the gate Rick demanded "On your knees." when the strangers reached the gate. They all immediately dropped. There was four of them. Three adults and a small child.

Rick, Daryl and Michonne made their way out of the gate with guns still aimed at the group. They could only see the face of two of the adults. The thirds face was shielded by a hood, the child held tightly to their hand.

"We aren't going to hurt you." Rick assured as Daryl approached the first of the adults.

It was a woman probably in her 30's. She looked at Daryl unflinchingly. "You got any weapons on you." Daryl asked brusquely.

The woman moved her jacket aside showing a knife at her waist. "I have another in my boot." she answered honestly. After handing the knives off to Michonne, Daryl moved on to the other unhooded adult. It was another woman who also had a knife on her waist.

When Daryl moved to the hooded figure he noticed a black and silver knife on their hip. He yanked the hood of the persons head causing the woman to jerk in fear. "Where did you get that knife?" He demanded.

Rick noticed the outburst. "Daryl." He said sharply. "What's wrong?"

"She has Carols knife." Daryl explained, knowing the knife anywhere. He grabbed the knife, asking again "Where did you get it?"

The woman looked fearful. "A woman gave it to me. She helped me and my daughter escape some men who were holding us hostage." She answered.

Daryl looked at the woman trying to tell if she was being truthful. Her face was covered in cuts and that he knew came from a knife. He knew she wasn't lying.

"When did this happen?" Daryl asked not as harshly as before.

The woman seemed to be thinking. "I don't know a couple of week's maybe."

"Where?" Daryl asked

"I don't know when she got us out we just ran until we couldn't. I know it was north from here. I don't miles or anything." She answered nervously.

Daryl gave a nod and left the group standing at the hate as he rushed to grab his stuff. He was going to look for Carol.

As he was throwing his things into the back of one of the extra cars they kept for emergencies Rick walked up and leaned against the side.

"You know I have to do this." Daryl said before Rick even opened his mouth.

Rick gave a nod. "I know, I'm not stopping you. I was going to tell you to make sure you come back."

Rick held out a bag. Daryl took it peeking inside. It was full of extra food and a gun and some ammo. Daryl gave a thankful nod and got in the car. He pulled out of the gates without a backward glance.

* * *

><p>Carol sat in the outdoor cage holding her jacket tight around her. Since the men had realized what she had done to them they had turned violent. She was covered in bruises and blood from their punishments. They had started making her stay in the cage when she wasn't being useful. Papa had also taken to letting Charles have her a couple hours a day. Thankfully he wasn't one for raping a woman, he did like to use a knife though.<p>

He would sit her in a chair and talk to her while he made fresh cuts. Most were superficial but some she was sure some should have been sutured. She sported a nice long gash from her ear to the corner of her mouth from their first time alone together. He had laughed as he finally got a reaction out of her.

This was her punishment for not killing the bastards in their sleep when she had the chance. She had convinced herself then that she didn't want to kill any other living souls. She had spilled too much blood.

Now she knew it didn't matter. It was either them or her. She wasn't going to let it be her.


	3. Chapter 3

Carol could feel his eyes on her. For the past several days she had noticed Jacob eyeing her every time the others weren't around. His expression was dark and she knew nothing good could come of it.

She had been lucky so far that Papa and Charles were never gone too long. She just wasn't sure how long that luck would last.

It was two days later she knew her luck had run out. She could hear the trio talking at the gate how the heavy rains the night before would make the trip longer. Maybe even making it an overnighter.

Carol watched as Papa and Charles walked out the gate. Before completely out of sight Papa turned to her with an expression she couldn't quite read, and then he was gone.

Jacob stood and watched the others leave before turning his sights on Carol. He didn't immediately move toward the cage. He just stood where he was sizing Carol up.

Carols heart was pounding painfully in her chest as he started to slowly make his way toward her.

He stopped just outside the cage. Again just staring.

"Take you clothes off" he said gruffly, reminiscent of her first time in the cage.

Her hands were shaking so bad it took several minutes to remove all of the clothing. She moved her arms to cover herself, but Jacob slammed his hand against the cage and barked out a harsh "No!"

She dropped her hands immediately, standing totally exposed.

Jacob gave her a sinister smile. "You ain't stupid. You know how this is going to go." he growled at her.

When he opened the cage she tried to push past him and run, but knew he would be too strong. He pulled her tightly to him and grasped her breasts roughly.

She fought with everything she had. She brought her head back as hard as she could when he felt him biting at her neck. She could feel his teeth breaking the skin. The shock of the impact was enough for him to briefly his loosen his hold on her. She tried to run, but he recovered too quickly and took her to the ground.

She landed on her stomach, the impact knocking the breath out of her.

Before she could even catch her breath again, the world tilted as she was moved to her back.

"I wanna see your face while I'm in you." he said slightly winded from the exertion.

The heavy arm across her chest held her practically immobile, but she still fought with all she had. Hitting and scratching anything she could reach. She got several hits to his face, but they didn't even seem to faze him.

She started fighting harder when he moved between her legs and she felt him undoing his pants.

Her shout of pain drowned out his grunt of pleasure as he slammed into her roughly.

His arm was still across her chest and his new position caused more of his weight to push her the ground.

Finally exhaustion and knowing there was no point in fighting a battle she couldn't win she went limp. Arms falling to her side as she lost her fight.

Jacob apparently preferred her like this as his movements got faster and more violent.

On a particularly violent thrust Carol's arms automatically jerked wider, her hands searching for anything to grab on to.

Her right hand encountered something hard and she gripped it. When she tightened her grip it moved and she realized she could lift it. It was almost too heavy to lift with one hand but with a new surge of adrenaline she brought the object as hard as she could against the side of Jacobs head.

The blow stunned him enough that he stopped moving and she had enough time to hit him again, even harder this time.

With the second blow he fell to the side. Carol followed him, slamming the brick into his head, using both hands.

When she finally came out of her trance she wasn't sure how much time had passed, she could no longer make out the shape of what used to be Jacobs skull.

She sat staring at the mess, her breath coming in harsh gasps.

She was still sitting in the same position when she heard the voices of Papa and Charles nearing the gate. She had just enough time to grab the hidden knife she knew Jacob kept in his boot and stand before she heard the gate open.

Carol took the moment of shock that caused the two men to stop to flip open the knife in her hands.

Charles was the first to come back to himself, pulled the knife off his hip and with an enraged yell he charged her.

She was ready for him and slammed the knife into the side of neck, before he even raised his own knife. She smiled as she looked in his eyes, pulling the knife out and slamming it in again. She kept eye contact as he fell to the ground, wanting him to know she had won.

She looked up to see Papa holding a gun, but it wasn't pointed at her. He was simply holding it at his side.

He looked much older now starting brokenly at his dead sons.

"I knew he was going to do somethin'. That's why we came back." the old man said quietly. "You do everything you can for your kids." He continued seemingly unaware she was standing there exposed and covered in blood. "You just want to make them happy. That was all I had left. Making my kids happy."

He looked at carol now meeting her eyes and holding them. "That was all I had." He said again, raising the gun to his head.

Carol didn't even flinch.

* * *

><p>Daryl had been searching for days, only occasionally catching a few hours of sleep, in the car.<p>

He would find random houses here and there and search them. Never finding any signs of Carol.

If he hadn't been hyper alert he would have missed the almost overgrown driveway. He turned the car to go down the rough trail, but was afraid of bottoming out in the low car, so he left it and continued on foot.

When he stepped out into the opening he encountered a large brick wall. He found the gate quickly. It was already open so he simply stepped through. His crossbow in front of him.

He is brought up short by the sight of a walker in a cage. The walker was pushing himself against the sides, gnashing his teeth toward Daryl. Daryl decided the cage was sturdy enough for him not have to mess with.

There was two more bodies on the ground as well. An older man who was partially covered with a sheet and another man whose head was a pile of mush from what he could tell. His pants were down and his ass was bare. Daryl shuddered to think what he had been doing to incite that much rage.

As he moved inside he found the house empty. He banged against the wall, but didn't hear any movement. From the leftover food on a plate at the table he knew he had only missed the person by a day or two.

From the look of the mess outside he wasn't too upset by that.

In the room off of the kitchen he found a pantry of sorts. The room was full of food, including some jarred vegetables and fruits. He also saw sandwich bags full of jerky that actually made his mouth water. He grabbed one of the bags and tore into it, practically moaning in happiness.

He checked the other rooms which were simply bedrooms. The last door held a much smaller room, almost a closet. He saw a trapdoor in the floor.

He threw open the door and was confronted with only darkness. He took the flashlight he always had on him out and lit up the room below. He could see a dirt floor.

Looking further in the room he could see shackles attached to poles in the ground. He knew from the smell that someone have been kept in here for a while.

The he suddenly remembered the hooded woman with Carol's knife had mentioned being held captive. He knew he had the right place, he was just too late.

His only consolation was that Carol's body was nowhere to be seen.

He stared at the shackles, picturing Carol laying there helpless and terrified.

He realized he was shaking and quickly closed the trapdoor. He moved out of the small room slamming the door behind him. Even though he knew it was ridiculous he moved one of the chairs against the door.

He wanted to get out of there quickly.

He knew it would be stupid not to take advantage of the food, so he make several trips packing the car with as many goods as possible.

As he was making his last trip back to the car his eyes fell on the headless man again. A chill rand down his spine at the thought of what he had done, and who he had done it to.

He gagged as his mind races with images. Almost losing his recently consumed snack.

He raced to the car wanting nothing more than to leave this place as soon as possible.

Daryl drove for miles before pulling over to collect his thoughts. He briefly considered driving back and trying to pick up a trail, but knew realistically he wouldn't be able to find anything because of the storms of the past couple of days.

With a dejected sigh he started the car and headed home.


	4. Chapter 4

Carol had been wandering aimlessly for going on three days now.

Before leaving the house she had packed a bag with as much food and water as she could stand to carry. Upon a deep sweep of the house she had managed to find 2 more knives and a hatchet. The hatchet had been hanging on the wall in Charles room, the feathers and tribal markings told her it was definitely on decorative. However it was sharp so she had taken it.

She found a small cottage, but had only stayed one night. She felt too antsy to stay in one spot too long. She felt too vulnerable sitting still.

So she kept moving. Following a creek. She had been following for the soul purpose of hearing the water. She had always enjoyed the sound of creek water. It had always been comfortable. It was what her full mind needed right now.

She luckily hadn't met many walkers, but the ones she had were easily handled with the hatchet.

She was no stranger to sleeping outside on a cold night. She did miss having someone to share warmth with. Her small fires and stolen blanket were just barely enough to make her comfortable.

On this particular day it was unseasonably warm. The sun was bright, the sky a deep blue with a smattering of white puffy clouds. The air was just brisk enough to be invigorating.

Carol had been moving slower today, just soaking up the warmth, instead of her usual head down march she had adopted lately.

She was standing face toward to the sky when she heard the first scream. It was a woman's scream.

Carol looked around trying to pinpoint the direction it had come from. Fighting the surprising urge to just ignore it, she ran in the direction she thought it was coming from.

As she drew closer she could hear several other panicked voices shouting over each other.

When Carol finally saw the group they were surrounded by a small herd of walkers, of about twenty.

There was two women and two men .The men were fighting for all they were worth, but only had small knives. The women from what she could tell were unarmed, standing behind the men.

Dropping her pack on the ground she raced forward hatchet raised. She had the advantage of being behind the herd.

She had taken out five before the other walkers recognized her as food. She was aided by the fact her hatchet was very sharp and went in fast and came out smoothly.

She was in a zone taking out whatever she could.

She was brought back to reality by a startled "Whoa." from the man whose head she was aiming for. She immediately dropped her arm.

She took a few steps back taking in four very surprised faces.

There was a brief stare off before her almost victim got out.

"Where the hell did you come from?"

Carol pointed behind her. "I was out for a walk." she stated flippantly.

"Well you just saved our asses." the other man joined in. "That was the coolest thing I've ever seen" he stated excitedly.

Carol couldn't help but smile. The man who was actually closer to being a boy was looking around at the walker destruction excitedly. Carol took in the group quietly.

They were all probably in their twenties. They were clean, well as clean as you could be after fighting walkers, and healthy looking. She figured they were part of a bigger group. From the way they handled the herd she didn't think they would have lasted long without help.

When she turned to get her pack she heard a gasp behind followed by a whispered "She has bite marks." She quickly pulled her shirt back up where it slid down during the fighting.

"Hey did one of those assholes bite you?" the first man blurted.

Carol snorted and picked up her pack. "No the asshole who bit me was still alive."

The group looked uncomfortable until one of the women stepped forward. "Um… my name is Misty and this is Dawn." she said pointing to the other woman, who waved awkwardly. "And these two were Shiloh and Hank." she finished gesturing to the men.

Carol moved to the women "Why aren't you armed?" her words came out harsher than she meant for them to.

Misty and Dawn shared a slightly guilty expressions. "We don't really know how to use knives or anything and we weren't expecting to run into any deadies. We haven't really been seeing them lately." Misty finished lamely, looking almost ashamed of herself.

While thinking how stupid the name deadies was, Carol pulled two knives out of her bag. Opening one and making stabbing motions in the air. "If you can't run which you always should. Aim for the head. It's not rocket science." She closed the knife back and handed one to each of the women.

Each of the women both looked excited as they opened the knives and giggled at each other. "Thanks" they bother chirped at the same time, making the others laugh.

Carol gave a nod and turned to walk away.

"Hey wait." Hank said reaching out to catch Carols arm.

She jerked away forcibly, startling Hank in the process, his hands shooting up palms out in surrender. "Sorry." he said quickly. "You have to let us repay you. I mean you saved our asses." he stated hands still raised. "We could feed you a warm meal and give a nice place to sleep that's semi comfortable. It's indoors at least." he concluded with a shrug.

Carol thought a bit and then agreed. Her stomach winning over her desire to get away from the perky group.

"Mama was working on a deer before we left." Dawn spoke up, bouncing excitedly in place.

The group all smiled at that "Mama is the cook at home. Her name is Pam but everyone calls her mama. She can make amazing things from anything. You'll enjoy it." Shiloh spoke up with equal excitement.

The group picked up all of the discarded containers.

"We just need to get water." Hank announced heading toward the water.

After the water had been gathered. Carol helped carry the load to the truck sitting at the edge of the woods.

She had been offered the passenger seat while Mist, Dawn, and Shiloh all climbed into the bed of the truck. Hank was behind the wheel.

"There's about fifteen of us at home. We all basically stumbled up each other. Well me and Shiloh have been together sense the beginning." Hank explained "We watch out for each other. Have you been alone the whole time?" Hank questioned.

Carol didn't answer immediately, finally saying "I was with a group until just recently."

When she didn't give any more information Hank dropped the subject and continued to drive in silence.

The next thing Carol knew she was being gently nudged awake.

"We're home." Hank stated quietly.

* * *

><p>Pam Wilby stood over a large pot filled with her "famous" deer meat stew. She used jars of vegetables from their garden they had canned during the warmer months.<p>

Pam had started cooking as a way to keep her mind off how horrible the world was now. She used as much time of her day cooking. Just to stay sane.

The sound of an incoming vehicle put everyone on alert, but a quick call of "Ours." calmed everyone.

Anytime a group came back from an outing the rest of the group would go out to welcome them home. As Pam went out the door she knew something was different.

There was complete silence. Standing by the truck was a stranger. They hadn't had a new person in months. The woman was standing awkwardly, silently taking in her new surroundings.

Her clothes were almost black with dirt and filth. Her face had several nearly healed cuts. A particularly brutal looking slash at her jaw caused a shiver to run down Pam's spine.

The woman was the picture of exhaustion, her eyes were bruised with deep shadows. Her face pale, her shoulders slumped. She leaned against the truck as if the thought of holding herself up was just too much.

"Who's this?" Gerald, the closest thing to a leader the group had, asked Hank who was taking supplies out of the bed of the truck.

"This is um…." Hank turned to Carol. "She never said her name. She saved us though. She took out like twelve deadies all by herself." Hank finished with a grin.

All eyes turned to Carol.

"Carol" was her only reply.

"Well Carol." Gerald replied "You are more than welcome here."

Pam watched as the other all introduced themselves to the woman. She could tell she was a little overwhelmed. She was the last to approach.

"You look like your head is about to explode." Pam got a chuckle and shrug as her answer.

"How bout' you come with me and I'll show you were you can wash up. Supper will be done soon."

The building was a small warehouse. They had divided the building into several different sections. There was a sleep section, with an array of random mattresses that people had dragged from random places. All spread out on the floor for people to use at will.

Beside the sleeping area was a curtained off area for bathing. Then there was a common area and a cooking area, which consisted of a large homemade grill and prep area.

Pam moved the curtain to the bath area aside and motioned Carol forward. "This is where you can get clean. There's towels in that container there." Pam explained pointing. "Do you need something to wear?"

Carol shook her head in the negative. "Okay I will leave you to it. Just come to the grill when you're done." Pam finished nodding toward the cooking area.

Pam moved off and continued her cooking. She had just served the last person in line when she saw Carol. Standing awkwardly at the entrance of the cook area.

Pam caught Carol's attention and motioned her over.

"I hope you like deer meat." Pam announced passing a full bowl into Carol's hands. The woman immediately started shoveling the food into her mouth.

Carol was about six spoonfuls in when she finally acknowledged Pam's words.

"This is amazing." Carol spoke barely stopping chewing.

Pam gave her a large smile, always liking a compliment and ignoring the fact the woman probably would have said that about anything.

"Here sit down." Pam said to Carol pulling out one of the chairs. Carol lowered her herself into the chair while still stuffing food into her mouth.

Pam chuckled. "So I heard you were pretty amazing out there." She finally said. Shiloh had told her all about the incident. Gushing endlessly about Carol's impressive deadie killing prowess.

"I just did what I had to." Carol said quietly.

Pam snorted "No, we both know now a days most people would have just kept walking." Pam observed.

"You look exhausted. We have plenty of places you can sleep. Just as soon as you are finished I'll show you where to go."

Pam watched as Carol finished eating.

"I'll look away if you want to lick the bowl." Pam teased at the almost sad sigh Carol had let out after the last bite.

Carol let out a bark of laughter. Pam laughed with her.

Pam showed Carol where the beds were and she wasn't surprised when all she got was a quick "thanks" before Carol was dead to the world. She hadn't even removed her boots.

* * *

><p>It was the middle of the next day when Pam saw Carol again. She stumbled into the cooking area her eyes squinted, hair sticking in all directions. Pam almost lost it when she yawned a huge yawn and then smacked her lips.<p>

"Hey Carol." Pam called causing the other woman to startle slightly.

"You're just in time for lunch. We're having leftover stew." Pam volunteered.

"Sounds great" Carol responded, taking the offered food gratefully.

Carol watched people mill about while she ate her food, with the same gusto as before.

"So tell me about this place." Carol told Pam between bites.

Pam told her how she and Gerald were the ones to find the place originally. They had been alone for months before people started to wander in. Now they were all just a big family.

When Pam finished she noticed Carol deep in thought. Obliviously remembering something.

"What happened to your group?" Pam asked curious now. Hank having mentioned Carol mentioning a group.

Carol seemed to contemplate answering. Finally reaching a decision, she simply replied "I left." Without going into further detail.

Pam dropped the subject.

* * *

><p>Pam was clearing the lunch mess with the help of Carol when they heard shouts from outside the open warehouse door. Dropping everything they rushed outside.<p>

Pam gasped at the scene. Shiloh was lying next to a deadie, his hand bloody and short a couple of fingers.

Gerald was standing over him a gun aimed at his temple.

Pam was used to this part of their new life, but the thought of losing Shiloh was almost more than she could handle.

She saw Gerald's finger twitch before they were all brought up short by a shouted "Hey!"

Carol rushed to the two men pushing Gerald away from the prone man.

"What the hell are you doing?" Carol shouted again.

Gerald look at her shocked.

The whole group was standing around now.

"It's just his hand." Carol pointed out. "I need you to hold him down."

She looked around continuing her instructions "I need towels, lots of towels. Hank you help Gerald hold him and give me your belt."

No one moved immediately, but a shouted "Now." got everyone motivated.

Pam hadn't moved so fast in a long time. When she got to Shiloh's side he was calmly watching Carol tightening a belt just below his elbow.

"What's happening?" Shiloh asked shakily.

Carol shot him a glance. "I'm cutting your hand off." Carol stated simply.

There was a moment of stunned silence before Carol spoke again.

"Hold him."

Pam watched as Carol calmly raised her hatchet and brought it down swiftly.


	5. Chapter 5

Three days ago Carol had cut off Shiloh's hand. He had lost consciousness quickly and hadn't gained it back. On top of this he had developed a fever. Carol had been telling the group it was completely normal, but no one wanted to listen. Gerald had actually told Carol, as they moved Shiloh to a bed, that he would kill her if Shiloh died. She had barely managed to not to roll her eyes.

Everyone was giving her the cold shoulder, even Pam who was so welcoming in the beginning. It stung but she guessed, under the circumstances she would react the same.

She was sitting on the side of Shiloh's bed when he started to moan and thrash. Without missing a beat Carol took her knife out, ready to do what had to be done.

The episode was over quickly however, and when Carol felt his forehead she knew that his fever had broken. The relief she felt made her head swim.

Carol wasn't sure if the group knew or even cared, she could hear them. She could hear every word though, as they talked about what to do when Shiloh died. Carol sat and listened until she was distracted by a quiet "You saved me again."

Carol gave Shiloh a soft smile. "You really should work on that," Carol teased, running her fingers gently through his hair.

"How do you feel?" she questioned after a bit.

"It hurts so much," Shiloh answered looking where his hand used to be. "I don't really remember you doing it though," he continued quietly "I remember you raising your hatchet and me screaming and then seeing you standing over me a couple of times," he finally finished.

They sat in a companionable silence while Carol let things settle in for the younger man. "I found you some painkillers, and by found I do mean stole from someone's bag."

Shiloh smirked "I won't tell if you don't," he said laughing a little.

"I'm going to tell the others you're awake," Carol said moving to stand. Shiloh grabbed her hand with his.

"Thank you," he said quietly, with a gentle squeeze.

Carol smiled and gave him a squeeze back, going to the curtain dividing the sleeping area and the common area. She pulled it aside startling the group inside.

"He's awake," she stated simply.

She had to step to the side quickly to keep from getting knocked down. She went in the opposite direction of the group and headed outside. She needed the fresh air.

As she stepped outside she made a mental note to talk to the others about putting people on watch, when she saw that there was no one outside. They were behind a fence, but she had seen people carelessly leaving the gate open several times in the short time she had been there. The group seemed to do very little to protect themselves.

She was sitting outside in a chair with her feet propped on a crate, when she heard the sound of multiple feet shuffling in her direction. She had just put her hand on her knife when she saw Gerald round the corner, followed by Pam and Hank. They all looked a little guilty.

Carol relaxed back into her chair and watched them approach. Pam was carrying a bowl and her stomach growled. Since the incident they hadn't offered her any food. She had been munching on the leftover jerky she had in her bag, but that had run out early yesterday.

The trio stopped beside her and Pam wordlessly passed her the bowl of food. She took it and dug in immediately.

"We're sorry," Hank was the first to speak. "We were all more than a little freaked out," he continued "we haven't dealt with anything like that before. We thought for sure he couldn't survive that," he finished, actually kicking the dirt like a small child.

Carol decided not to point out the fact that Gerald had been about to shoot Shiloh. She decided it was best not to push her luck, definitely when good food was involved.

Gerald was the next to speak up "I think we've been a little sheltered here. I think maybe it's making us too soft," he looked at the ground "you've saved four of our own. One of em' twice," he finished shoulders slumped.

When it was evident he wasn't going to say anything else Pam took her turn. "We had no right to judge you, not after you saved the idiots in the woods."

Hank opened his mouth to defend himself, but was cut off by what Carol could only describe as the "mom" look from Pam. He just ended up crossing his arm and muttering under his breath, pouting impressively.

Carol actually laughed at the man, causing him to pout even more. Carol had finished her meal while the others had been talking. "Well I'm not one to hold a grudge, so if you promise not to string me to a tree and let the deadies get me," she paused letting the group know she had heard them talking, "then I have some ideas on how to help."

The others were all looking at the ground, all properly put in their place.

* * *

><p>Daryl watched people in the yard from his perch on the tower. The woman who had given him the information on Carol was playing a game of chase with her daughter. The two were giggling and dancing around each other. He couldn't help the smile that pulled at his lips.<p>

Since getting back from his failed search for Carol, he had mostly been keeping to himself, spending most of his time on watch. He knew it was wrong to avoid the group, he just didn't deserve to be happy right now.

He couldn't help feeling like a failure when it came to Carol. He failed in keeping her with the family and he failed in bringing her back.

He thought of her often. He missed her more than he thought possible. When they had found each other in the woods after Terminus, he had never been so happy. He had acted on pure instinct when he ran to her. Knowing he needed to be as close to her as possible. He had been shocked when she had held him just as hard.

He was often confused by their relationship, but knew he was happiest when she was near him. Now without her, again, he just felt lost.

* * *

><p><em><strong>One Month Later 8 Months after Carol Left**_

It had taken Carol a couple of weeks to get into the swing of things with the new group. Cutting off someone's arm wasn't always the best way to start a new relationship. It had saved Shiloh's life, so as soon as everyone calmed down she was a full-fledged member of the group.

She had taught the group ways to be safer on runs. Gotten them all used to being armed at all times, even just walking around the building. She taught them all the things that had become so second nature to her. She had even talked them into putting up guards outside.

Now she was sitting in the truck waiting for the others to finish their goodbyes. Leaving took forever, with everyone having a five minute goodbye. She was used to just a quick be safe and being on your way.

When everyone was packed in they set off. Everyone was nervous because this was the first overnight trip for the group. They were traveling out further than they ever had. The group consisted of Misty, Hank, Dawn, and a man Carol was unfamiliar with, but his name was Dusty. He was young and Cocky, but seemed OK enough.

Carol watched the landscape fly past the window. She could hear the others in the truck bed laughing and joking. Hank was quiet beside her. She knew he was still slightly uncomfortable around her from how the Shiloh situation had been handled.

Sometime later he finally spoke. "I actually had to talk Shiloh out of coming. He's biting at the bit to be more helpful."

Carol chuckled, "He's a tough kid."

"Oh lord, don't let him hear you call him a kid," Hank said dramatically. "He'll make you set down for a thirty minute presentation on why he's not a child."

"How old is he actually?" Carol asked curious now.

Hank thought for a minute. "He's barely nineteen at this point I guess. I was friends with his brother. Shiloh used to be the tag along. Shiloh watched his whole family literally be ripped apart. He was still covered in their blood when he saved me from the same fate. We've been surviving together since then," his story was cut short by the sight in front of them.

Across the road in front of them was four bodies. They had obviously been meticulously laid out as they were head to feet in a grotesque roadblock. The truck was close enough that Carol could see the gunshot wounds to the forehead that had caused the deaths.

She heard Hanks door open, but grabbed his arm before he stepped out. "Wait."

In the woods beyond the bodies she could see movement. It looked as if the wind was blowing the leaves but there was no wind today. "Have you ever shot anyone with that gun?" Carol asked in a voice much calmer than what she was feeling.

Hank gave her a questioning look, but shook his head no. He was about to ask why when gun shots rang out causing him to jump.

"Give me the gun," Carol said quickly.

He immediately passed it to her, watching as she opened the door and stepped out. "Get down. I'm about to do something stupid," she said as she moved to take cover by the truck, crouching in front of the tire.

Just before getting out Carol had seen the two gunmen, both were wearing ghillie suits. Laying down on the ground Carol moved to where she could aim around the front of the truck. She hoped by staying low she could take them by surprise. It was a bad idea but all she had at the moment.

She fired off her first shot and yanked her arm back as the dirt in front of her exploded with bullets. She jumped again when she heard gun shots from behind her, but then remembered she had seen a gun on Dusty's waist. She took the diversion of Dusty firing to move further out of her cover to see where her targets were. They both seemed distracted by Dusty for the moment so she took a shot. She managed to hit the closest suited man in the shoulder, causing him to grunt in pain and turn in her direction. She had just enough time to let off another round hitting him in the cheek, immediately she pulled the trigger again and this time hit her mark. He fell immediately.

His companion let out an enraged cry, which was cut short from one of Dusty's bullets. He fell to the ground but was still moving. Carol could hear his gasping breaths. Carol stood and watched as Dusty moved to the suited man's side. He pointed his gun at the man's forehead and pulled the trigger.

When everything was silent again, Carol became aware of sobs coming from the truck. She moved quickly to the back. The tailgate was down and she could see Hank in the back holding his blood stained hands over a wound in Mistys chest. The woman was breathing heavily and staring at the sky. Dawn was kneeling beside her hold her hand and sobbing. Carol turned her back, giving the family some privacy. She knew it would be over quickly.

* * *

><p>Carol had been surprised when the group had decided to move on. They had taken Mistys body to a large field that she had loved and buried her there. It had been a surprisingly beautiful moment.<p>

As they drove now, Carol's mind kept wandering to the family she left. She thought of them often, wondering what they were doing, if they had found a new home. Wondering if they missed her as much as she did them.

Daryl's face flashed in her mind. Him hugging her after Terminus, the complete shock of feeling him in her arms. Feeling him holding onto her for dear life, it had been amazing. She craved to feel that again, but knew that this was easier.


	6. Chapter 6

Daryl had never been so bored in his life. He supposed it was good he was able to be bored, but even before the world changed he didn't handle boredom well. Now he walking the perimeter, aimlessly. When he realized he was counting the slats in the wall, he knew he needed to get out of there and he knew it needed to happen quickly.

On his last pass around he ran into Rick, who appeared to be counting blades of grass. He was sitting on the ground Indian style, his head down and his face set in deep concentration. He was fingering individual blades muttering under his breath.

"Rick," Daryl said loudly, causing the other man to jump and curse. Daryl chuckled earning a frown from the startled man.

"We need to get out of here, go on a run or something. I'm going insane," Daryl remarked pacing now.

"Yes," Rick practically shouted, jumping to his feet.

* * *

><p>The next day they had a car packed with provisions, and Maggie and Glenn with them. When the two had noticed Rick and Daryl getting ready to leave, they had all but begged to go with them. The group had been on the road overnight, having only stopped once to nap and eat. They were going further than they had in a while, mostly just to draw out the mini vacation.<p>

Daryl was napping when he was jerked awake by the car coming to an abrupt stop. He looked to Rick, opening his mouth to make a comment on Ricks driving, but stopped short at the expression on the man's face.

Looking out the front windshield he saw it. Spread out in front of them was a sea of walkers. It was the biggest herd they had ever seen. They couldn't even see where the things stopped.

Daryl held on as Rick slammed the car into reverse and whipping it around and speeding off.

"How many do you think there was?" Glenn asked from the back, his voice tight with fear.

"There had to be hundreds. I couldn't even see the end of em'," Daryl answered his voice calmer, but still laced with fear.

They drove on for hours in silence, all lost in their own thoughts, when Maggie suddenly yelled "Stop!"

Rick slammed on the brakes again. Everyone looked at her questioningly, to see her pointing out the window with a terrified expression.

Not a hundred yards away was a small warehouse. They had passed the place once already and it had looked empty, now there was people running around and fighting for their lives. There was walkers flooding in non-stop through the broken down front gate.

Daryl could see people on the roofs with guns trying to help the ones on the ground. It was complete chaos. He knew if they didn't help, there was no way the people would last much longer. With a quick glance and nod toward Rick they all exited the car.

There was easily fifty walkers in the small yard despite the already considerable pile the fighters had made. Daryl fired all of his arrows, before dropping his bow and attacking with his knife. He was vaguely aware of where the others were, not wanting to get to far away from his group.

Daryl was in a zone taking out what he could, not even feeling the splatters of blood and brain hitting his body. Without warning he was pulled back roughly and landed on his back on a snarling and snapping walker. He didn't even have time to panic before a knife was slammed down violently in the eye of the walker. Daryl briefly me the eyes of his savior before they continued the fight.

What felt like hours later they all stood amongst the ruins breathing heavily, everyone trying to gather themselves. Daryl approached the man who saved his life and put out his hand. The other man moved to shake his hand but seemed to remember to late that he no longer had that hand. With a snort and crooked grin he just shrugged.

"Shiloh!" Everyone jumped at the shouted name.

Daryl watched curiously as a woman made a beeline for the man in front of him, practically pushing Daryl to the ground to get to him. Shiloh looked particularly embarrassed as the woman embraced him. Daryl let out a surprised chuckle when the woman smacked the guy across the cheek.

"That was stupid," she said in a scolding voice. The guy had the decency to look guilty.

Rick had moved to stand by Daryl as they watched the confrontation. As the woman turned her eyes to Daryl and Rick they both stood straighter, almost at attention. Daryl was sure he heard Glenn snicker behind them, but chose to ignore it.

"Thank you for your help," Pam said eyeing the group critically. "Where did you come from?"

Rick was the one to answer. "We encountered a large herd earlier and we were running. We saw ya'll from the road. You're not safe here anymore."

The rest of Pam's group were now standing around listening to the conversation. They all looked like they had been through hell.

"We still have people out there," Shiloh said into the silence.

Rick and Daryl shared a glance, knowing that most likely they were already gone if they were anywhere near the herd. Deciding not to say anything Rick made a quick decision. "We have a nice setup up in the mountains. Ya'll are more than welcome to follow us. Do you have any vehicles?"

"Hank has the truck. I mean the ones who were out getting stuff. They were supposed to be back yesterday, but obviously their not," Shiloh explained. He had seen the look that passed between the two men, but he refused to give up hope.

Everyone tensed at the sound of a vehicle speeding in their direction. They all stood tensely, weapons raised.

"It's ours," Shiloh said quickly. Everyone relaxed with a sigh.

The groups watched as a man and a woman stumbled out of the truck. Dawn and Dusty moved to stand in front of their group.

"Where's Hank?" Shiloh said panic and dread coloring his voice. He looked at the truck like he expected Hank to jump out any second.

Dusty looked uncomfortable as he explained "We lost Misty. We were ambushed and she was shot, but the rest of us got away. We were in an old cabin when it was over-run, deadies were everywhere. We had decided to break into groups. We got separated," Dusty looked distraught. "We tried to go back there was just too many.

Pam was holding Dawn as she sobbed silently into her shoulder.

"D….Do you think they could have made it out?" Shiloh asked through his tears, wiping at them roughly.

Dusty shrugged helplessly "There was so many," he said quietly, putting his hand on Shiloh's shoulder. "Hank and Carol are…"

"Wait. Did you say Carol?" Daryl cut off the other man "Carol has she been with you long?" he asked hopefully.

"No. She showed up a couple of weeks ago," Shiloh was the one to answer. "She's saved my life multiple times already, motioning toward his missing arm.

Daryl looked helplessly at Rick. "We can't just leave her."

Rick looked to Dusty. Dusty shook his head. "There's no way to get through the swarm. Their packed tighter than I've ever seen. We probably only have an hour or so before they reach us," he explained, feeling bad for the heartbroken expression of the man in front of him.

Rick agreed "We really need to get out of here," he looked to Daryl "I'm sorry we can't chance it. We will give the herd a few days to pass, then we will send out a group to search for them." Rick finished hoping to appease the man.

Daryl wanted to argue, but knew that it would be suicide to take on a herd of that size. He can only agree. He really wasn't surprised to be so close to her again and still unable to get her. Such was his life.

* * *

><p>Carol found herself once again covered in walker guts. Hank had stared at her like she was insane when she had knelt by the corpse and started rubbing its innards all over herself. She had to practically tackle him to before he let her do it to him. He could only assume she knew what she was doing.<p>

That had been two days ago. Now they were huddled together on the top of the trailer of an abandoned truck, listening as the herd passed below. After the cabin had been over run their camouflage had helped them travel long enough to find the trailer. Not wanting to push their luck they had carefully climbed to the top and hunkered down.

Carol could hear Hank breathing beside her. She used the comfort of not being alone to stay calm. She hadn't known the man long, but she knew she could trust him. That went a long way these days. The long hours of silence had allowed Carols mind to wander to things she had been able to avoid before.

She thought back to Sophia and Daryl mostly. Two people that had meant the most to her. She had let them both down so many times. She had let Sophia witness the unending abuse and then she hadn't been able to protect her from the new world. She had abandoned Daryl after he selflessly reached out to her after sensing her grief. She had been selfish.

She was brought back to herself by the feeling of Hank shifting beside her. She could feel wetness on her cheeks, she hadn't even realized she was crying. Wiping her face quickly she concentrated on what Hank was doing. He was looking over the side of the truck to the ground below. "It's clear," he said keeping his voice quite. They both sat up slowly, their bodies stiff from being in the same position for hours. The stood stretching and taking in their surroundings.

"I can't believe how bad we smell," Hank broke the silence.

"It got the job done," Carol said simply.

Hank gave a grunt of agreement. "What do we do now?" Hank looked to Carol expectantly.

Carol was quite for a bit, thinking. "I have no idea," she finally answered shrugging helplessly. "I guess we move toward the warehouse, but slowly. We'll find somewhere to hunker down. We don't want to run into the herd again. I say we find a place to wait it out. Then in a couple of days we will move back to your group."

Hank was nodding in agreement. "Do you think they will survive the herd?" he asked quietly.

"Sure," Carol answered, though she was sure she believed it. "We know that Dawn and Dusty made it out with the truck, so maybe they made it and warned the others." Carol could tell by Hanks expression that he didn't really have much hope. Carol sighed "Look we can only concentrate on us now. I know it's hard but there's nothing we can do for them now," she met Hanks gaze and gave her a nod. "Ok good. It's getting dark we need shelter. We're too exposed here."

They gathered the meager belongings they had managed to keep with them through the chaos. Hank was the first to the ladder and made his way down. He missed the last wrung and fell to his back with a groan. Hopping up quickly he exclaimed "I'm Ok," before bending at the waist and groaning again.

Carol tried to hold in, but a laugh burst forth anyway. The outburst earned her a raised middle finger from the ground, which caused her to laugh harder. It was her first real laugh in a long time and it felt really good.

* * *

><p>It was nearly the next morning when they wandered upon a cabin. The cabin looked like it had been abandoned even long before the world ended. They were lucky though, the structure still seemed sound and there was plenty of furniture to block the windows and doors. As they got everything secured the morning sun was bright and beautiful in the sky.<p>

Hank had barely even sat down before he was leaning against the wall snoring. It only took Carol a few more minutes to join him. They slept propped against the wall using each other for warmth.

It seemed like only seconds later Carol was jerking awake. When she got her senses under control she realized it was Hank moving around. Carol watched as he searched the place. After a while of muttering and shuffling things about, he let out a triumphant "whoop" as he pulled out a bucket. He then proceeded to plop and down and undo his pants. It was cases like this when Carol actually envied the men.

Hank let out a high squeal when he heard Carol mutter "That better be all you do in that bucket."

"You can't startle a man when he's pissin'," Hank said with a laugh, cause Carol to laugh with him.

"That was quite the scream you have there," Carol got out through her laughter.

"It was, wasn't it?" Hank responded flippantly.

After they calmed down and Carol took care of nature's call, they started taking stock of their situation. They had three bottles of water and four granola bars. They were filthy and covered in walker filth with nothing to change into. It was going to be a miserable few days, but what else was new.

* * *

><p>Two days later they were hungry and miserable and decided it was time for them to head out. It was raining which made travel harder but was welcome to get some of the filth off of them. They trudged through the mud for hours without any problems, but eventually their luck ran out.<p>

They broke out of the covering of the trees into an open field. In the middle was a small encampment. Hank and Carol both froze in place. It took them just a few seconds to move into action, but it was too late. They had been seen.

There was shouts from the tents as people started running about, most of them armed. Hank grabbed Carols arm and they turned to run. They were brought up short by two men holding guns. Carol and Hank raised their hands away from their bodies.

"We're not going to hurt you," the tallest of the men spoke first. Carol could tell from the way the other man's eyes ran over her body, she shouldn't believe him for a second. A quick glance at Hank told her he was thinking the same thing. Carol wracked her brain trying to figure out a way out of the situation. She couldn't think of a single thing.

She had given up when there was a blur and then something slammed into the two men knocking them into each other and then to the ground. It actually took her brain several seconds to put together what was happening in front of her.

Hank was rolling around on the ground with the two men throwing punches. Carol saw one of the men raise to his knees and adjust his gun. Before the man could even the about pulling the trigger Carol had her knife out and thrust into his shoulder. He cried out causing the other man to pause, allowing Hank to deliver a ferocious blow and knock him out. Without hesitating Hank and Carol took off running.

Carol had never run so hard in her life. She was behind Hank and she could see him glancing behind him every now and then. Carol could hear people behind her, she was surprised that there was no gunshots. She assumed they didn't want to draw any unwanted walker attention.

After what felt like hours she could no longer hear anyone behind her. She could only hear her blood pumping in her ears. She knew if they didn't stop soon she was going to collapse. When she knew she couldn't go on any longer Hank stopped abruptly, almost causing her to slam into him. She slid to a stop beside him, gasping for breath. She didn't feel so bad when she noticed Hank was having just as much trouble catching his own breath.

"I've never run that hard in my life. I think I pulled something," Hank said after catching his breath.

It took Carol a little longer to catch hers, but she was finally able to spit out "That was stupid."

Hank was nodding in agreement before she finished her thought. "Honestly I panicked. I knew nothing good was going to come from that. So I just acted."

"Even though it was dumb and extremely dangerous. Thank you. I couldn't think of anything. We were so lucky. That shouldn't have worked," Carol was coming off her adrenaline rush causing her to babble a little.

"I'm not sure where we are," Hank pointed out. "I'm pretty sure we're still going in the right direction though."

"Some of it looks vaguely familiar, from where I was wandering around before I found your group. If I remember correctly there's a small stream around here. We can feel our bottles," Carol finished as she was already moving in the direction of the water.

It took a while but they eventually found the water. They filled their bottles and washed themselves down a little more, removing what the rain wasn't able to. It didn't take long for them to finish. As they restarted their journey they felt slightly reinvigorated.

It took walking non-stop through the night but they eventually had the warehouse in their sight. Even from the distance they were they could see the place was over run. The fences were down and the walkers were everywhere. Carol could hear the walker's cries on the wind.

Carols knees felt weak, she tried not to think of the lives lost. Hank had dropped to his knees, his sobs causing Carols own tears to fall. Carol wrapped an arm around his shaking shoulders, offering what comfort she could.


	7. Chapter 7

It hadn't taken Hank long to gather himself again. After a brief conversation about whether or not to go search the building, they decided to leave it. Both because it was too dangerous and Hank didn't want to encounter any of his family. Now they were on the road again trying to move quickly, but not quickly enough to meet back up with the herd.

Hank was being strong and trying not to show his sadness, but Carol could see it in everything he did. She wanted to comfort him and tell him everything would be fine, but she didn't even believe that herself, so she didn't insult him with empty words. They had been traveling in silence aside from the occasional warnings about straggling walkers. They traveled for hours before stumbling on a mobile home deep in the woods.

The trailer had definitely seen better days, it was missing windows and there was large holes in the roof, but it was getting dark and they were exhausted. They secured it as best they could and then laid down to sleep. Carol awoke to the sound of Hank moving around. It was still dark outside, she could see him in the dim light of his flashlight.

"What's wrong?" Carol moved to sit against the wall.

"I keep thinking too much, I'm trying to distract myself," Hank said, annoyance coating his words. "I found us some clothes though. They were in the back room in a closet." He threw a t-shirt and some jeans at her. She held the shirt up and laughed out when she saw the front. At Hanks questioning stare she turned the shirt toward him. It took him only a second to burst out laughing. On the front of the shirt were the words "Dawn of the Dead" in red with a zombie behind them.

"You know, I actually really liked that movie," Hank remarked through the laughter.

"I did too," Carol responded still laughing. Standing and moving to the other room, she quickly changed her clothes instantly feeling a million times better. She still smelled horrible but the fresh clothing seemed to infuse her with a new energy.

When she got back to the living room she saw that Hank too had changed into different clothes. His mood seemed to have lightened a little as well.

"How good are you at hunting?" Hank asked out of the blue.

Carol let out a very un-lady like snort. "I'm not…...not even a little bit."

Hank chuckled "Yeah I'm not either." He moved to look out a window. "I think we should try though. We're both starving. Surely between the two of us we can get something," he finished, not sounding confident at all.

Carol shrugged "Can't hurt to give it a shot." She moved to stand by him at the window. "There was a guy in my group…" she drifted into silence. Hank nudged her shoulder bringing her back to herself.

"Sorry, Daryl he was our hunter. He was great at it, he kept us full of squirrels." She finished lamely. Hank gave her a strange look, but turned back to the window.

Outside there was a small yard and then woods on all sides. They both stepped outside into the yard and looked around. "What's the plan?" Carol asked, having none of her own.

Hank had his hands on his hips looking around intently and his face set in concentration. "No idea," he said succinctly. Looking around some more he met Carols amused gaze. "Well you're the better shot so you have the gun," he explained handing it to her. "Then I guess we just wander around and hope for the best."

Two hours and 4 bullets later they were still empty handed. Dejected they were on their way back to the trailer. Carol was lost in her thoughts when she felt a hand on her arm. She looked to Hank to see him pointing at a rabbit near a fallen log. They both stood frozen in place until finally Carol snapped out of it and aimed the gun. She fired the shot and hit the rabbit in the side. She was startled when Hank ran forward and jumped on the rabbit. It was still alive, but Hank quickly finished it off with a quick snap of its neck.

Carol was startled yet again when Hank jumped up with a whoop and ran to her and picked her up in a hug. She couldn't help but be caught up in his excitement and hugged him back. Hank finally set her down and went to pick up the rabbit. We walked to her looking at the rabbit proudly, but then stopped suddenly, "I don't know how to start a fire."

Carol looked at him incredulously, wondering how he had lasted this long without learning to start a fire. "I have matches in my bag, if that doesn't work there are other ways." Carol almost laughed at the look of relief that passed over Hanks face.

Sometime later they were sitting at a fire stomachs growling at the scent of cooking meat. "It's almost done," Carol said, flipping the meat. Hank was practically drooling already at the thought of food. A few minutes later they were sitting inside both silently scarfing down their meal.

"Tell me about your group." Hank requested quietly.

Carol stayed quiet and Hank thought she wasn't going to respond when finally she started. "I don't know what to say about them. I was with some of them since almost the beginning, we were a family" She paused seemingly lost in thought.

"Why did you leave them?" Hank asked into the quite

"I didn't want to see them die," Carol answered simply.

Hank nodded "I can understand that."

They were both lost in their own thoughts only to be brought back by the sound of a body against the side of the trailer. They both jumped quickly to their feet, but neither moved, they stood listening. The telltale groans of the dead filled the air. There was several more thumps and the groans and snarls got louder. As the walkers piled up against the outside the trailer started to shake and sway. Knowing that trailer lacked in structural security Carol made the decision to run. She pushed Hanks shoulder and pointed to the door. He nodded in agreement. Grabbing their bags that they had kept near them, they moved toward the door.

Carol readied her knife and quickly pulled the door open. There was no bodies in the front. Carol could hear them still piling up in the back. With a quick glance around they were once again running blindly into the night.

* * *

><p>It took Daryl a week to get a group back to the warehouse. The herd had taken longer to dissipate than anyone had thought. Now him, Shiloh, Dusty and Glenn were all shifting through the warehouse. They had told the warehouse group that they would bring back any personal items they could for them. Daryl was trying to be patient knowing how hard it was to lose everything, but all he wanted to do was to go check the cabin where Carol had last been found. Their plan was to hit the warehouse and then search the cabin and surrounding area.<p>

Several hours later they were on their way to the cabin. Daryl's leg bounced in agitation. He could only think of the possibility of finding Carol as one of those things. He was actually shaking at the thought of seeing her lifeless, staggering about jaws clashing at the air, forever starving.

"Daryl," Glenn said loudly causing him to jump out of his thoughts. "I called your name three times. Where are you man?"

Daryl shook his head and cleared his throat "Sorry," was all he said. Sitting up he saw that they were pulling up to a cabin. Daryl and Shiloh both jumped out of the car immediately, rushing into the building. They both quickly went through checking every corner. As Daryl exited out the back door finding nothing he almost dropped to his knees in relief. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning he found Shiloh standing there with tears on his cheeks. Shiloh gave him a smile, Daryl gave a nod in return.

Glenn met them outside looking equally as relieved. "What do we do now?" he asked looking at the other two men.

Daryl looked around, "There's no way to track them," he said trying to make out footprints that just weren't there. "We know they at least got out of the cabin. We can search the woods, see if there are any signs of them." Everyone agreed and a short time later they were all walking through the woods.

There journey was uneventful until the stumbled upon a large field. There was an encampment in the middle, but the tents were in tatters and there was walkers stumbling around in the ruins. Not wanting to draw the unwanted attention the group quietly turned and went back into the woods. They continued on their trek, pausing briefly at a small creek to fill up their bottles. The walked for several hours, but never found any sign of Hank or Carol. Before they knew it they had circled back to the warehouse.

The sky was getting dark, "Maybe we should just stay in the warehouse tonight and go back for the car tomorrow morning." Glenn suggested. "We can keep a man on watch."

It only took everyone a few minutes to get settled into the warehouse. They had a brief meal of canned chili and canned peaches. Dusty volunteered for the first watch and the others eagerly accepted. Glenn was next up for watch so he decided to go ahead and get some sleep while Daryl and Shiloh side by side talking. Daryl had never been one for idle conversation, but something about the younger man made him comfortable enough to talk to.

"So how long have you and Carol been together?" Shiloh finally asked.

Daryl sighed "We were together at the beginning. There was a group of us at a quarry close to Atlanta."

Shiloh eyed him carefully "Is she you girlfriend or something?"

Daryl snorted "No, nothing like that. She's my…..." he paused searching for the word. He sighed again, "She's just Carol," was all he could think to say. Calling her a girlfriend or anything like that just didn't seem like enough. She was just his.

Looking at Shiloh he could see that he didn't understand. "So who's this Hank guy? He your boyfriend?"

Shiloh gave him a funny look a slight frown, "Uh…no," was his answer. "He and my brother were friends before the turn. I always considered him a friend, he always looked after me at school. I got picked on a lot and he would help me out. I lost my whole family and found him and we've been together surviving since. I don't know if I can do it without him."

Daryl look at Shiloh closely, seeing the fear he was trying to hide. "You can do it," said simply. "We go on living for the ones who couldn't."

Shiloh looked to be lost in thought, staring into the dark room. "We should get some sleep." Daryl said moving to lay down. Sometime later Daryl was awoken by the sound of someone moving around the room. Sitting up he saw it was just Dusty waking Glenn for watch. Knowing he wouldn't be getting back to sleep anytime soon he went outside to take a leak.

Seeing Glenn sitting in a chair in front of the building Daryl moved to sit by him. He sat on the ground with his back against the warehouse, "Do you think it's stupid to keep looking?" Daryl asked Glenn suddenly. An uncharacteristic hint of insecurity in his voice.

Glenn looked to Daryl surprised, "No of course not," he said with conviction. "You never give up until you know in your heart that there's nothing left for you to do. I know that it's not time to give up," Glenn finished.

Daryl looked Glenn over the same way that he had Shiloh. He couldn't exactly pin point when it had happened, but somewhere along the way Glenn had become a very close friend, the whole group had. In the beginning Daryl couldn't even stand the guy. It was strange how the world changed things these days. He would give his life for Glenn and knew that Glenn would do the same for him.

The next morning everyone was up early, Daryl and Shiloh decided to go further on foot checking the woods while Glenn and Dusty went back to the car. They would meet up the road. Daryl and Shiloh walked through the woods talking occasionally and taking care of walkers as needed.

Daryl and Shiloh wandered upon a mobile home in the woods. The walls were down and the doors and windows busted. Not sure why Daryl felt he should check the house anyway, just a niggling in the back of his mind. As they moved to the front yard they could see a makeshift fire pit. It could have been anyone, but Daryl couldn't help the hope he had in stomach.

"That was Hank's," Shiloh said pointing to a shirt laying on the ground. "He wore all the time."

"That's good, that means they changed clothes," Daryl said. "It looks like they had to leave quickly. Anytime there's no fresh walkers is a good thing though," he added wanting to comfort the man a little.

"We're not going to give up." Daryl said after an awkward moment of silence.

"I know," Shiloh said. He looked sad, but was putting on a tough front.

After a brief conversation on what to do, they decided to keep moving forward to see if they found any more evidence. They still had several hours before they had to meet the others. They walked in silence, both searching the area intently looking for any signs.

After wandering around with no luck they made their way back to the road and met with the other two men. Everyone piled into the car feeling dejected. They were once again going home empty handed.

* * *

><p>"Is that a car?" Hank asked suddenly, looking around.<p>

"Yeah I think it is," Carol answered. "It's moving pretty fast though."

Carol and Hank had been walking for three days with no luck in finding any shelter. They had been walking while only taking breaks for short naps while one watched. They were tired and mostly keeping to themselves only occasionally warning each other of danger. They were lucky enough to get another rabbit on their second night out. Now they were walking close to the road trying to find something for shelter.

"Which way is it coming from?" Hank said looking up and down the road. "Do we chance it or do we hide?"

Carol thought for only a second before saying "Hide."

They moved quickly away from the road, hiding behind the high brush and trees. As the car passed Carol could just make out four silhouettes. She had a brief flash that maybe they had made the wrong decision, but quickly pushed it down and the kept moving. It was another day of traveling before they finally got lucky and found a small farm house. The windows were boarded and it had very obviously been picked through once or twice.

"Oh looky what I found," Hank said from the kitchen. Carol looked up to see Hank proudly holding up two jars of pickled pig's feet. Carol got queasy at the thought of eating them and her stomach growled at the thought of food.

Hank chuckled at her "Apparently even at the end of the world some people are picky." He sat down beside her and handed her a jar. "I used to eat these with my dad all the time. For some reason he loved them. I mostly ate them just to see him smile," Hank remembered as he opened the jar. He watched as Carol opened the jar and sniffed it tentatively, wincing at the strong smell of vinegar.

"If I've ever had them I can't remember it," Carol admitted as she looked into the jar with a look of detest. After a minute of hesitation she dipped her finger into the slightly jelled mess and starting eating hesitantly. After a two bites she decided it was bearable and dug in with gusto. They were eating in silence with only the occasional sound of slurping feeling the room. She was left with only a liquid at the bottom of her jar when she looked to Hank. Hank was happily drinking what was left in his jar.

The sound of gagging made Hank glance at Carol. "It's the best part," Hank said, nudging Carol's arm with his elbow.

With only a slight moment of hesitation Carol lifted the jar and finished off the contents. Hank gave a laugh at Carol's grimace and laughed even harder when Carol finally said, "That was good," smacking her lips.

They stayed in the shelter of the house until hunger set in and they had to search for food. They were lucky this time and found shelter quickly. This time it was another small house, but was full of canned goods.

They had been there for four days when they were both pulled from sleep by the sound of voices. They grabbed their knives and Hanks gun and moved to the room furthest from the door, trying to give themselves time to judge the amount of threat they faced.

Carol heard the people talking, they were loud and seemed completely unafraid of bringing the walker upon themselves. She could hear both female and male voices. All laughing and making crude remarks toward each other. Carol was nauseous with dread. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hank waving his hand to get her attention. He held up 6 fingers, which was the number she had figured there was also. She knew in her heart that this was going to be yet another battle for their lives.

They didn't have to wait long until they could hear footsteps moving down the hall toward their room. Carol gripped her knife tightly and took several calming breaths. Hank stood behind the door and Carol stood with her back toward the wall furthest from the door. They used the loudness of the group to their advantage, using the voices to know the number of people coming down the hall.

They were ready when the door opened. Hank let the first man pass letting him get closer to Carol. He took the second man. They both raised their guns, but never got a shot off as they were dispensed of with knifes to the throat, almost simultaneously. Hank and Carol both stood frozen, both surprised it had been so easy. Quickly grabbing the guns they retook their positions. Soon the rest of the group were yelling down the hall. They listened as someone was told to go check on the others.

A woman walked in the door her gun raised. Her eyes were huge as she took in the bodies on the floor. Her eyes flicked up to Carol and she snarled as she pulled the trigger. Her shot was knocked off target my Hank ramming her into the wall. Since they had already made so much noise he simply put a bullet through her temple, instantly stopping her struggle.

Even though they knew they were exposed they stayed in the room guns aimed at the ready. Again they heard footsteps, but the person stopped before they got to the door. From her vantage point she could see a head just slightly peak around the corner. The man seemed almost cocky as he put his full body into view in the doorway. Carol could smell the man's body odor from where she was standing across the room. The man's gaze ran over her body and she tensed, his look reminding her of how Charles and Jacob had looked at her. Like she was there for their entertainment.

He took a few more steps into the room, ignoring the bodies of his comrades on the ground, seeming to only have eyes for Carol. When he reaches the middle of the room Hank moves to attack, but is brought up short by the sound of a man and woman talking as they walk down the hall. Hank meets Carols gaze with a nod and Carol pulls the trigger, the first man dropping instantly. There was an instance of total chaos and then everything stopped.

Hank and Carol were left standing in middle of the room breathing heavily. "Why do we always run into the assholes?" Hank asked still panting slightly.

Carol gave a derisive snort, "We're just lucky like that."

They gathered the weapons they could and got out of the house as quickly as possible, not wanting to chance that there was more people in the group. They walked for hours wanting to put as much space between them and the old house as possible.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Three Weeks Later<strong>_

The yard was abnormally busy, the bright sun and warm air bringing more people out into the fresh air. Daryl was actually enjoying himself walking around and watching people interact. Even though they had all been together for months now, it still surprised Daryl at how well everyone seemed to get along. He had even found himself having conversations with random people and not wanting to kill himself.

Shouts and commotion drew him to the gate. "What's going on?" he asked, not talking to anyone in particular. He was told that someone was coming up the hill. Fighting his way through the crowd, he saw a man slowly making his way up the hill, sliding and catching himself every few feet. Daryl had just raised his bow and was about to shout at the man when a blur streaked past him.

"Hank!" Shiloh shouted as he slid on his knees embracing the fallen Hank. Daryl followed quickly searching the area for any sign of Carol.

"Where's Carol?" He shouted grabbing Hank by the shoulders. Hank looked at him confused, before standing and looking around.

"She was right behind me," he said looking around more frantically now. "We got caught up in another herd, or the same herd I don't know. We ran and were fighting through them. She was right behind me," he finished, tears in his eyes.

All three men were standing looking into the woods when the first bodies stumbled out of the covering of trees, growling and snapping.


	8. Chapter 8

Everyone was nervous as the walls shook as the bodies slammed into them. The moans and snarls were louder than any of them had ever heard. Daryl stood in his perch watching the bodies still moving out of the woods. He tried hard not to think of Carol out there by herself, fighting for her life. He wanted more than anything to be out there with her, wanted to protect her. He refused to think that she wasn't still fighting, that she was one of those things.

"Daryl," Rick's voice drifted up to him.

Daryl looked over the edge to see Rick signaling for him to come down. At the bottom of the perch Rick, Glenn, Maggie and Michonne were all waiting for him.

"The herd is starting to thin. We thought you would want to be part of the group going to look for Carol when its time," Rick explained. Daryl gave a simple nod. "Hank said that they had to fight through herds before, she knows what she's doing Daryl," Rick continued feeling the stress coming off the other man.

"I know," Daryl said brusquely. "What's the plan?"

Eight hours later they were in the woods looking for Carol and taking out any of the left over walkers. An hour into their search they found their first clue about what might have happened. There was a significant pile of walkers all with knife wounds to the head. Someone had made a stand here. Daryl searched the area and came up short when he found a fresh body. It was a man, his throat was torn out, but a gunshot to the head had kept him from turning. As the group moved further they found five more bodies all bitten, but taken care of before they turned. None of them were Carol.

As the sky started to darken the group started back toward home. Daryl was trying to piece together where Carol fit into what they had just seen. He was brought out of his thoughts by the sounds of leaves rustling, raising his bow he moved slowly toward the sound. The others had all stopped as well weapons raised, covering Daryl from the back.

As Daryl got closer he could hear what sounded like crying, sobs and sniffles. When he could finally see the person he could tell it was a woman, but it wasn't Carol. The woman had her back to him, she was standing over something but from his vantage point he couldn't see it yet. As Daryl quietly moved around the woman he saw that on the ground was a small child, probably around 5 years old. There was an obvious bite mark on the child's shoulder. A gunshot wound to the head had taken care that she wouldn't turn, just like the others.

Daryl looked to the woman now, she had her own wound on her shoulder. The woman made eye contact with Daryl, before he could even open his mouth. She raised the gun to her temple and pulled the trigger. Daryl jumped at the sound and watched as she fell beside the child, her arm landing around the small frame forever protecting.

Daryl looked to his own group, they all stood silently tears in their eyes. They came back the next day and burned the bodies.

Daryl was sitting by himself outside in the yard when Hank came and a sat in the chair beside him. "I know she's still alive," Hank said simply.

Daryl looked at him closely, he looked like he had been through hell. "What happened to ya'll?" Daryl asked.

Hank shrugged "We survived," was all he said. Looking to Daryl again, "She is a fighter, you know this. She was armed. I don't know how we got separated. I guess I was just so excited about finding other people I left her. I know she was right behind me."

Hank seemed lost in his on world, Daryl simply listened. "We had to kill people. I've never done that, she said she had. She said it was just the way it was," Hank paused. "She can't be gone."

Hank looked to Daryl. "She can't"

* * *

><p>Carol once again found herself running for her life. This time though she was alone. She wasn't even sure how she had managed to lose Hank, but one minute he was there the next minute gone. When she saw the herd she had started running in the opposite direction trying to out run around it instead of through it. She had seen other people, but had been unable to do anything for them. She had seen a small child and moved to protect her but was too slow and had to keep moving, just another failure to add to her growing list.<p>

She had eventually stopped seeing walkers, but kept running to put more space between her and them. Now she was walking, she knew she couldn't be more than a few miles from where she had lost Hank and planned to go look for him, but needed to give the herd time to pass and needed to regain her bearings.

Walking close to the road she eventually stumbled upon a small gas station. Carol could tell even before entering it had been picked over several times, but the windows and doors were intact so she entered cautiously. She was met with the stench of death and the sound of snarling. There was three walkers were dispatched of quickly and pulled out of the door in the back. She couldn't risk burning them with a herd so close.

She searched the building only finding a few cans of food with no labels. She practically cried when she stumbled upon a bottle of hand sanitizer, immediately taking advantage of it. After securing the doors as best she could she made herself a little nest in an aisle toward the back, out of sight from the windows.

After settling down in a back room she started to think. She had gotten used to Hanks presence and now she was feeling a little lonely and exposed. Feeling her mind start to wonder to things and people she didn't want to be thinking about she decided to take stock of the supplies she had. She knew she would have to go tomorrow to find water, she had finished her last earlier that day and there was none in the store. She had a gun and a knife, four cans with no labels, the hand sanitizer and some candles. That was all she had to her name. She figured she could be doing worse. Her exhaustion eventually caught up with her, so using her lumpy bag as a pillow she was soon asleep.

Pain in her shoulders from her uncomfortable sleeping position caused Carol to wake early. She let out a un-lady like grunt as she moved to her feet, there was nothing like a night on a hard floor to make you feel your age. Moving slowly she took care of her morning routine and then sat down on a desk to eat breakfast. The can didn't have a label on it so she held her breath as she opened it, hoping for something good. She frowned and threw the can top on the floor when she discovered corn would be her breakfast that morning.

The corn had been underwhelming, but she was full. Now she was trying to figure where she was, with all the running the day before she wasn't able to place the area. She had paid little attention to her surroundings the day before. It was mid-day when she heard the noise she had been searching for, the faint sound of a stream. She immediately changed directions heading toward the sound. When she found it she paused a moment enjoying the beauty of the water, the she quickly filled her bottle and downed it, before filling it again along with two extras she brought.

As she was tightening the cap of the last bottle she became aware of voices. She could just make out what sounded like two women arguing. She sat and listened and couldn't help but chuckle when she realized the very heated argument was over berries. Not being able to help herself she decided to get a closer look at the feuding women.

As quietly as she could she moved toward the voices. They came into view right as the younger woman tossed a handful of berries into the other woman's face. The indignant look on the face of the woman hit in the face was enough to make Carol laugh out. The duo didn't hear her though as they had already started yelling again. It was only then she noticed a small boy sitting on the ground playing with a toy truck. He was around seven or eight Carol guessed. He looked bored out of his mind. Carol watched as he leaned over and picked up one of the fallen berries, but before he could even move it to his mouth the youngest woman knocked it out of his hand.

Sighing, knowing she wouldn't be able to just walk away from the obviously hungry trio she moved out of her hiding spot. The women immediately stopped arguing and both reached for the boy, pulling him to stand behind them. Holding up her hands Carol moved a little closer before saying, "You know there's an apocalypse happening. You can't just be yelling out in the open like this."

When she was close enough she stopped and looked at the berries they were arguing over. "Those are poisonous," Carol said casually. Daryl had given her a berry lesson once when they had been trying to avoid people in the crowded prison. Shaking her head slightly to keep from thinking about Daryl she put her bag on the ground. Kneeling to dig out two cans she opened them, before standing to hand them to the women. There was only a second's hesitation before they each took one with a thanks. Seeing that neither of them had any bags or any sign of water she gave them each a bottle of water, knowing they would share with the boy as they were both alternating bites with him from their cans.

Carol stood slightly awkwardly as the small family ate and drank like they hadn't in days, which of course was most likely true. She saw the oldest woman tense and gasp as she was looking past Carol. Carol heard the snarls before she turned. There was only two walkers but the terror was radiating off the small group. She knew immediately that they had no experience with the walkers. Pulling her blade from her belt she met the walkers half way and dispatched of them quickly.

When she looked back at the women they both had shocked expressions on their faces. Carol was impressed to see that they had again moved the boy to shield him behind them. Meeting the little boy's big blue eyes, she knew she wouldn't be able to leave them to fend for themselves. Wiping her knife on the ground she asked, "Where have you been hiding?"

The oldest woman was the one to answer "We had a small camp from the very beginning. It was a government set up thing. We haven't been out of the walls since it started," she paused a look of pain passing her face. "We were overrun a couple of days ago. There was a big cluster of them and the walls failed. We had a car and drove until we ran out of gas yesterday. Then we just walked."

"Which direction did you come from? What direction was the herd moving?" Carol interrupted.

The younger woman explained that they came from the west and the herd was moving in the opposite direction. Carol was relieved that the herd she had out run and this other herd wouldn't be meeting up anytime soon. "I'm in a store back that way," Carol said pointing. "It's too late now, but tomorrow we need to try to find you some supplies. You can't be running around unarmed and unprepared. You're just lucky that the walkers all seemed bunched together right now." She knew she sounded harsh, but she didn't care.

She told them to follow her and after stopping by the stream to refill their bottles they started back toward the store. There was no conversation and Carol was fine with that. By the time they reached the front of the store the sky was almost completely dark. Pulling out her flashlight and gun Carol entered the store first, telling the others to wait. Not wanting to take any chances that some traveler and stumbled upon her hiding spot. When the coast was clean Carol called the other in and blocked off the entrance.

Moving everybody to the back room she lit a couple of candles throwing the room in a dull yellow light. Turning off her flashlight to save batteries she sat on the ground motioning the others to join her. The women sat with the boy between them. There was an awkward silence until finally the youngest woman spoke, "My name is Robin, this is my mom Debra, and this is my son Liam."

Carol nodded, "My name is Carol."

Robin smiled seeming slightly more comfortable now that she knew Carols name. "Have you been alone the whole time?" Robin asked curiously.

Briefly lost in memories Carol didn't immediately answer. Then realizing the hanging question she simply answered, "No." Pulling the last can out of her bag she offered it and the can opener to her new companions. Knowing it wasn't smart to use up there last can of food so quickly, she couldn't let the Liam go hungry either. They would set out tomorrow to look for supplies and weapons. She wouldn't let these women be weak like she had been, not too long ago.

* * *

><p>After a nice night's sleep Hanks mind was clearer and he had gone back out with Daryl again down the mountain and in the surrounding woods to look for Carol again. Hank knew that she would have kept running until she had felt safe and there was no real way of knowing which direction she would have gone in. He told Daryl as much, but the man had searched the entire day before returning to the camp with slumped shoulders.<p>

"At least we know she out ran the herd," Hank said to Daryl later that night as they stood in line for food. Daryl only gave a nod. Hank wanted to say more, but he knew whatever he said wouldn't help any. He knew how he felt when he thought he had lost Shiloh. He didn't know the exact relationship of Carol and Daryl but he could feel the pain pouring off the man and knew there was a deep connection there. Carol hadn't said too much about her personal stuff, but he had felt that she was missing someone. Hank knew he would do whatever he could to get the two back together. He owed them both that much.

* * *

><p>Carol was the first to wake up, she had slept sitting up against the wall allowing the others to sprawl out a little more. She looked at the others and they were cuddled in a pile Robin and Debra had their arms protectively over Liam. Carol felt very lonely despite the full room. Standing quickly and quietly she quickly moved out of the room, giving the others slightly longer to sleep. When Carol was able to see out the windows she saw that it was still really early. The sky was just beginning to lighten.<p>

She stood staring out the window until she heard the others moving about in the small room. It didn't take long for them to come out of the room looking to take care of morning routines. Thirty minutes later and with very little conversation they were heading out the door. As much as Carol didn't want to go the opposite direction of where she lost Hank she knew that there was nothing in that direction that would be helpful. They would have to double back when the others were better supplied.

Having been behind the walls for so long the other two women were slightly out of shape and they had to take several more breaks than Carol had wanted. Nobody had complained not even Liam, who was simply walking quietly along with them. They had a slightly slower pace so his shorter legs could keep pace. They were making their way through a thickly weeded area when Carol paused, causing Liam to bump into her. She gave him a smile and he gave her a bashful one back. She looked up at the confused women and smiled. "These berries we can eat," Carol said with a chuckle pulling a berry off the vine and popping it in her mouth. "You can eat the red ones, but they aren't as sweet."

She smiled when Liam started eating them with gusto, and laughed out loud when he ate a red one and made an ugly face at the bitterly sour taste. They ate all the ones they could find from the sparse bush and then moved on. They all seemed to have a little more pep in there step and were making better time.

It was late afternoon when they happened upon a small shopping center. There was a grocery store and a shoe store and several clothing stores and even a sporting goods store. Carol didn't get her hopes up knowing most likely that they all had been picked over. She told the group as much, getting nods of understanding.

They started with a shoe store, the others were all wearing tennis shoes, which wasn't conducive to walker slaying. The shoe store had been picked through several times, but they were lucky enough to find new boots for them all. Carol had even replaced her beloved boots with a nice pair of hiking boots. They found some backpacks and stuffed some clean socks and extra laces in the bags. They were getting ready to leave when Liam decided he needed his own back and found a small bag with trucks on it. He put it on his back and gave the others a nod and they left.

They hit several clothing stores next and each changed into clean clothes, and Carol told them to each pack at least one extra set of clothes. Carol felt like a new person with new clothes on. After everyone was clothed with new duds, they moved to the sporting goods store. Not surprisingly the place had been picked through more than the others. After Carol took care of a lone walker they searched the place. When they finished, they each had a blanket and Carol had a new Leatherman that she found under a pile of junk. She had also found knives for Robin and Debra. She also found two machetes, keeping one for herself she gave Debra the other. Robin had managed to find a couple of small medical kits and emergency food packs. Carol shoved a couple of extra folding knives and matches into her bag, and with them all very impressed with their finds they left the store.

The sky was beginning to darken but there was still enough light to see the bodies moving in the grocery store window. They had the telltale shuffle of the dead. Carol counted five walkers but couldn't guarantee that there wasn't more hiding in the aisles. Giving Debra an assessing once over she decided it was worth the risk. "Are you ready for your first lesson?" she asked Debra.

Debra gave her a slight nod, even though she looked terrified. Leaving their newly filled bags with Robin and Liam at the side of the building out of sight, they stood in front of the door. "You aim for the head. Let them come to you. Don't rush. They're not quick but they will take you by surprise. You have a big knife try to stay as far away as you can. I'm going right you go left," after receiving a nod from Debra Carol opened the door and moved inside.

They worked quickly and quietly, there had been four more that Carol hadn't been able to see from the outside. Carol kept throwing quick glances in Debra's direction, but despite a few startled yelps she seemed to be holding her own. Carol had taken out six of the walkers but was impressed with Debra's first foray into walker slaying. When the last walker fell Debra face was flushed and her eyes bright. Carol knew the feeling she was feeling. That feeling of figuring out you could take care of yourself.

After telling Robin and Liam it was clear Carol took note of the grocery store. It smelled of spoiled milk, rotten vegetables and walkers. It was a combination, but there was a surprising amount of canned goods left and even two boxes of cereal bars. Carol immediately tore into one of the boxes and passed out the sweet bars. She figured they deserved a treat.

"I think we should stay here tonight. There's an office in the back we can hide in. We can block off the doors like we did in the gas station. It's too late to be wandering around outside," Carol observed. Robin and Debra nodded in agreement. Carol noticed Liam staring at her bag, she was confused for a second before smiling and digging out another bar and handing it to him. With a big smile he sat in the middle of the aisle and went to work eating his treat. Eating slowly this time seeming to savor every bite. The women chuckled at his innocent excitement.

After blocking off the front door and the door in the back they moved to the hidden office. It was bigger than the one in the gas station. There was a desk that they moved in front of the door and made themselves comfortable against the far wall. They were all low on water, having not found any during their search of the store. Taking the bottles and combing them into one bottle to share that night, they each took a small drink, even Liam only taking a small sip.

Carol was awoken by her head falling to her chest where she had fallen asleep against the wall again. The room was still dimly lit by a candle that they had lit upon entering. Debra was curled on her side asleep snoring softly into her makeshift pillow. Robin was awake watching as Liam drew on some paper that they had found somewhere. Carol watched the two silently. Robin was running her fingers through Liam's hair and every few minutes Liam would excitedly show her what he had drawn. It was mostly odd shapes Carol couldn't make out. She watched them for several minutes before Robin looked up and saw Carol watching them.

"He hasn't talked since we were attacked. I think everyone telling him to be quiet so the things don't get has him scared to talk. I keep telling him it's OK, but I don't think he believes me," Robin explained.

Carol watched Liam look at his mom and then go back to drawing. "It's a hard world for children to understand," Carol said thinking of Lizzie. She felt a tickle on her cheek and wiped at it realizing she was crying. Sniffling and rubbing her face briskly she sat up straighter, "Sorry, just thinking."

Robin gave her a curious look, but thankfully decided not to ask questions. Carol continued watching mother and son interact until she felt her eyelids growing heavy again. Shifting onto her side she used her new blanket as a pillow and went to sleep. It felt like only moments later she was being shaken awake. "There's voices outside," came Debra's frantic whisper. Sitting up quickly Carol motioned for silence. The voices outside were male and female, none of them familiar. They were exchanging vulgar comments between them and laughing loudly.

As the voices grew closer to the door to the office Carol and the others sat frozen. When the door knob turned and started to the door started to move. They all moved as one and pressed against the desk in front of the door. They sagged in relief when they heard the voice say that the door was stuck and move on.

It was an hour later and the people were still outside loud and showing no concern for drawing walkers. Carol could make out at least six different voices. Three women and three men. Carol looked around the office trying to figure out something to do. Just sitting and waiting was torture.

Carol lost track of time as she listened and waited. The sound of yelling and glass bottles breaking startled the office group, but they kept themselves from crying out. From the slurred state of the voices now Carol figured that the group was way passed drunk now. Eventually all the noise died down and there was only silence. Neither of them new how long they had been waiting, having lost track hours ago. Carol thought for several minutes before whispering, "I think we need to make a run for it. They are probably passed out. We have a better chance against them drunk than if they are sober. We don't know how long they plan to stay."

Robin and Debra both seemed hesitant, Carol didn't blame them. She didn't really think it was a good idea either, but was afraid of waiting without being able to tell what was going on out there. Silently moving the desk and collecting their things Carol grasped her knife tightly as she eased the door open. Relieved to see that was still plenty of daylight outside Carol peaked her head out of the door. The place was even more trashed than it had been with five bodies piled together in the center of the bread aisle. Carol was certain there had been six voices so she looked for the sixth. Not seeing anyone she looked to the others in the office. "Stay here," she whispered as she moved out of the room silently.

As she stood silently listening she could just make out the sound of liquid being poured. Frowning slightly she moved toward the sound. As she approached the aisle the sound was coming from she saw a man reliving himself, giggling as he peed on shelves and floor. Rolling her eyes she moved as quietly as she could. Just as she got behind him her shoe squeaked on the wet floor and the man turned quick slashing out with a knife he had removed from his waist with astonishing speed considering he was plastered.

She looked at the snarling man easily reading his mind as he lunged toward her. Knocking his knife with her fee hand she plunged her knife into his stomach falling to the ground with him and covering his mouth as he let out a loud groan. Pulling the knife out of his stomach and plunging into his chest. Her hand kept him quite as he grunted. She held the hand over his mouth until she felt his last breath expelled against the back of her hand. She felt nauseous as she looked as his eyes staring wide and lifelessly up to the ceiling. Making a quick decision she removed her knife again and slammed it harshly into his eye socket.

Moving silently passed the still unconscious dog pile, she opened the door to the office silently motion the others to be quite. She motioned for them to follow her. Taking her bag from Debra she moved the group toward the door. She was proud with how silent the other three were. Once outside they all noticed an ugly rusted SUV that hadn't been there before. Moving toward it immediately Carol went to the driver side and was actually surprised to see the keys in the ignition. Hopping into the vehicle she started it up. The others quickly hopped in back and she tore out of the parking lot, no longer caring about volume.

The further they drove and the more the adrenaline left her body, Carol became increasingly aware of a pain in her hand. Not wanting to look at it until they were able to stop somewhere safe away from the road. After a bit she found a dirt road and turned down it. Driving down it a bit they were surprised to see a rather large house at the end. Telling Debra to follow her Carol got out of the car.

Standing in the entryway carol banged her fist against the wall. There was no sound from within, there wasn't even the smell of death that seemed to permeate every part of the world these days. Doing a room to room search anyway, they found everything intact from when the house was abandoned. There was a full pantry and the cabinets were full. Carol tested the faucet out of habit and wasn't surprised when nothing happened. Checking out the back door she was delighted to see a garden that had managed to grow several different vegetables.

Moving into the kitchen she found the others sitting in stools at the kitchen counter. They had a pack of water on the counter each enjoying a fresh bottle. Debra handed Carol one noticing the grayed haired woman seemed very pale, "Are you OK Carol?" she asked concerned.

Nodding Carol put her hand on the counter blood dripping from her fingers. "I hurt my hand," she said weakly starting to feel a little light headed. Carol was startled when Debra blurted out a loud, "Shit," and then attacked her hand with a towel that had been on the counter. Grimacing as Debra added pressure to the injury.

After what seemed like hours Debra removed the towel and peaked at the injury. The wound was in the meat of her palm. It was deep but not deep enough to hit anything important. "You'll need stitches," Debra said bluntly. Carol just nodded. "I can do them, but I haven't done them in a while," Debra continued. Carol gave her a raised eyebrow and a hollow, "Yay."

An in depth search of draws in the house produced a needle, thread and luckily some peroxide. Carol sat calmly at the kitchen counter watching curiously as Debra continued to look through the cabinets. Before long Debra was letting out a triumphant whoop and holding up a bottle of gold liquid.

"Drink up," Debra said with a chuckle. Carol had always been a light weight when it came to alcohol, so it didn't take long for her to start feeling the effects. She thought briefly of how jealous Daryl would be if he knew she was drinking whiskey right now. No matter how much she managed to drink the whole ordeal was extremely painful. No matter how used to pain you were getting stitched up when no pain killers sucked.

"All done," Debra said finally.

Carol looked at the wound and was impressed with the neat stitches. Frowning and still looking at her hand Carol slurred "How'd you do that?" Holding her hand closer to her face didn't bring about any answers either. Debra laughed causing Carols head to jerk up, throwing off her balance. She swayed dangerously on the stool and Debra grabbed her before she could tumble off.

As Debra helped Carol to the couch in the living room Carol started giggling, "I'm floating." She said quietly like it was a secret. Debra chuckled and helped Carol lay down on the couch. Carol got a serious expression as Debra pulled a blanket over her.

Debra smoothed Carols hair off of her forehead "What is it?" she asked quietly.

Carol sighed deeply, "I left him," she said tiredly, a tear leaking out of the corner of her eye.

Debra wanted to ask who, but Carol was already asleep.


End file.
